Eko Kvarner Demands from Minister of Environment to Suspend Plomin TPP Project

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Eko Kvarner association demanded, on July 6, 2012, from environment minister Zmajlović, to suspend the opinion on the environmental impact assessment study for new power-plant in Plomin, claiming that the Commission that evaluated study was under constant political pressure.

Plomin thermoelectric power plant (Photo Labin.com)

Eko Kvarner’s activists expressed hopes, in an open letter to minister Mihael Zmajlović, that he will not approve the start of realization of the project. The association notes that it fully supports the project for replacement of the outdated generator unit 1 of the existing facility, but add that such decisions should be based on facts, not on political decisions and lobbying.

"We warn that, any attempt to realize the project in its current form, which seems the most probable at this time, will mean that Croatia engages in violation of several international obligations, and the country could pay punitive damages that would further increase the costs of the project that is already marked of questionable viability and feasibility”, Eko Kvarner notes in the open letter.

The association clams that the Commission that evaluated the environmental impact assessment study didn’t have the proper working conditions, being constantly exposed to pressure by minister Radimir Čačić, and lacked all the relevant information.

Eko Kvarner adds that the project proposal is not in line with the District Spatial Plan, which has reserved that location exclusively for a natural gas-fired power plant.

"If you decide to give positive grade to the project, in spite of the clear arguments opposed to it, we shall consider it a sign that you lost all semblance of credibility as a minister of environment. Furthermore, for us, it would mean that the allegations that you were brought to this office just to approve disputed projects after the intentional political assassination of your predecessor, Minister Mirela Holy, were true”, says Vjeran Piršić, the President of Eko Kvarner. (Source: Index.hr/Zamirzine.net)