SAC verdict in favour of citizens!

Dear friends,

It's a great pleasure to inform you that the Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) of Bulgaria has canseled the positive decision of the Minister of Environment on Chelopech Mining's EIA for introduction of cyanide leaching in gold extraction!

With its Decision No 13092 from November 04, 2009, SAC has canceled EIA Decision No 8 from July 30, 2008 г. of the Minister of Environment and Waters. The court sends the documents back to the Minsiter with a recommendation for a new ministerial decision to be prepared, in line with the Court's motives.

The case against the EIA Decision was opened by the following NGOs: Association for agricultural and environmental projects - Plovdiv, Centre for Environmental Information and Education - Sofia, Green Balkans - Plovdiv, Ecoforum - Sofia, For the Earth - Sofia, "Underground Values" Association - Sofia and Green Policy Institute.

The Court recognizes most of our arguments including:

1. The very ling period between the finalization of the EIA Report and the Decision (2 years and 4 months) which makes the information at the Report outdated, incl. the one for the level of pollution at the region.

2. The decision of the Ministry of Environment t oset up public hearings only at the villages of Chelopech and Chavdar is wrong.

3. The proposed cyanide technology cannot be described as Best Available Technique (BAT) because the concentration of the Arsenic at the Chelopech ore is very high and such a technology exist only at experimantal stage in Arozina, US.

Let's keep the hope,
Petko Kovachev, ED