Legal battle for Vrhovinska River begins

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - The Centre for Environment has filed a lawsuit against the Decision of the Ministry of Spatial Planning, Construction and Ecology of Republika Srpska, which concludes that the investor of the Hotovlje small hydropower plant, "Delaso" d.o.o. Teslić, is not obliged to conduct an environmental impact assessment for the Vrhovinska River in the municipality of Kalinovik.
 
Without an environmental impact assessment for the "MHE Hotovlje" hydropower facility with an installed capacity of 4.68 MW, it is difficult to predict the real environmental damage that would result from the construction and use of this hydropower plant.
 
"The planned location is in a particularly fragile ecosystem of the upper Neretva river basin, which the Republican Institute for the Protection of Cultural, Historical and Natural Heritage of Republika Srpska stated in its opinion that it was previously planned for protection in the category of 'Habitat Management Areas', and is extremely important for preservation," stated Redžib Skomorac, assistant for the Energy and Climate Change program at the Centre for Environment, the Centre announced.
 
According to the Aarhus Centre in BiH, the Decision itself contains a number of inconsistencies.
 
"Although the planned small hydropower plant is located in an uninhabited area and is a facility just below the threshold for mandatory impact study implementation, we still believe it is not legitimate to expect it to have a negligible impact on the environment. Many investors in hydropower plants with an installed capacity below one megawatt have received decisions from this ministry stating that they are obliged to prepare an impact study, so why not this one?" asks Nina Kreševljaković, legal advisor at the Aarhus Centre Association in BiH.
 
The lawsuit refers to relevant regulations, specifically those provisions that clearly stipulate exceptions in which an impact study must be conducted regardless of the size of the facility.
 
"In addition, we refer to the provisions of international law, and for all the reasons mentioned, we hope for a fair judicial epilogue of this specific case," the Centre for Environment announced.