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EC started an infringement procedure against Romania over the micro-hydro power plant
The European Commission (EC) is initiating an infringement procedure against Romania over the micro-hydro power plant projects underway on the Dejani-Lupsa and Vistisoara rivers on the northern slope of the Fagaras Mountains, announced WWF-Romania.
In a release, the environmental advocacy and restoration organization states that it has been informed about this move in a June 3, 2015 official letter from the European body.
WWF-Romania representatives told AGERPRES that the Community executive body informed the authorities in Bucharest that on May 28, 2015 they would pursue legal action on this issue.
"WWF-Romania was informed in an official letter from the European Commission dated June 3, that the institution was setting off an infringement procedure against Romania over the micro-hydro power plant projects on the Dejani-Lupsa and Vistisoara rivers on the northern slope of the Fagaras Mts. From information we hold, the infringement procedure also targets the destructive projects on the southern slope of the Fagaras Mountains, on the Capra and Buda rivers. Confirmation from the European Commission comes one year and a half after WWF filed two formal complaints to the Commission, signaling a number of systemic violations of European and national legislation on water and biodiversity, in what concerns the authorization of constructions and their location in protected areas of European interest (Natura 2000)," details the WWF-Romania release.
According to the organization, the initiation of such a procedure follows some far-reaching steps by the Commission Romania failed to respond to, by operating the necessary legislative changes to sort out the issues.
The WWF complaints prove that the micro-hydropower projects on the rivers Dejani-Lupsa and Vistisoara violate the Water Framework Directive, the Habitats Directive (Natura 2000) and the Directive on public access to environmental information in the process of authorization and construction of the micro-hydro power plants on ecologically sound rivers in Natura 2000 sites.
The Tarcu Mountains are a Natura 2000 site, and together with four national parks and a nature park they form one of the last cores of pristine wilderness in Europe, stretching on an area of 350,000 hectares. The site in the Tarcu Mountains, where company SC Alset Energy SRL proposed two projects with two MHPs each, was designated among others for certain protected species of fish, crayfish and their habitats. Otters have also been identified in the Bistra Marului and Sucu rivers.