Court cancels environmental clearance for construction of power plant in Turkey’s Bartın

BARTIN – Demirören News Agency

Turkey’s Council of State has canceled an environmental clearance for a power plant planned to be built in the Black Sea province of Bartın’s Amasra district.

The court’s decision was mostly based on the reason that the environmental assessment impact (EIA) affirmative report failed to assess the project’s detailed environmental impacts.

The council’s decision came after 2,019 locals filed a lawsuit in 2016 with an administrative court in the Black Sea province of Zonguldak, requesting the termination of the affirmative EIA on the grounds that the clearance is “unlawful.”

Following the court’s dismissal of the case on April 20, 2018, some 2,002 locals, including village heads and representatives of NGOs, lodged an appeal to the Council of State, the highest administrative court in Turkey.

The lawsuit had recorded to hit a record number of individual plaintiffs in an environmental court case in Turkey.

The Council of State, in a ruling on Feb. 21, overturned the administrative court’s decision and stressed that the EIA affirmative report “is not in conformity with the law.”

The court’s decision was welcomed by the locals and environmentalists.

The power station was proposed by Hema Elektrik, a subsidiary of the diversified Turkish company Hattat Holding. The plant was planned to be built on a site less than a mile from the shore of the Black Sea.