Environmental groups call for emissions ruling for Czech Chvaletice power plant

Hnutí Duha and other environmental organizations and associations have urged the Ministry of the Environment to take the proceedings on changing the integrated permit for the Chvaletice power plant away from the Pardubice Regional Authority and make a prompt decision itself. The power plant still has not obtained a legally binding exemption from emissions limits for nitrogen oxides and mercury; a court overturned the exemption a year ago. Stricter standards have been in force since August 2021. The organizations are also preparing a lawsuit against the regional authority if their appeal to the ministry fails, they said in a press release. The Czech News Agency (ČTK) is seeking comment from the ministry and the regional authority.

„The regional authority was not spurred into action even when, at the beginning of this May, the Ministry of the Environment issued a binding order instructing it to make a decision without delay, by 22 May at the latest,“ the environmental organizations said.

According to Jiří Koželouh, head of the energy program at Hnutí Duha, the regional authority, which is required to make a decision and tighten the limits for the power plant, keeps putting off its decision, thereby allowing damage to the environment and people’s health. „Officials are either not doing their jobs or are deliberately favoring the power plant. Either way, the ministry should take over the case and make a prompt decision. Not only people’s health is at stake, but also public trust in the rule of law,“ Koželouh said.

Lukáš Hrábek, a spokesperson for Greenpeace, said the ministry must take over the entire case and cut the power plant’s emissions itself, or large polluters will continue doing whatever they please. According to Eliška Beranová, a lawyer at Frank Bold, other coal-fired power plant operators have complied with the new emissions limits since 17 August 2021 or have obtained exemptions from them. The operator of the Chvaletice power plant, however, is not meeting the new limits and has no exemption. „This would not be possible were it not for the unlawful inaction of the Pardubice Regional Authority, which has been going on for a year,“ Beranová said.

The regional authority suspended the proceedings on changing the integrated permit at the end of February, then resumed them at the beginning of May. On 5 May, the authority notified the power plant via a data message that the proceedings were resuming; the document was delivered within the ten-day deadline. Under the Administrative Procedure Code, the power plant had 15 days from receiving the notice to review the documents supporting the decision, that is, until 30 May. At the end of the deadline, it submitted its comments, which the authority must review because they raised new significant facts.

The power plant has been seeking an exemption from emissions limits for mercury and nitrogen oxides for several years. It submitted its application at the end of 2018, but still has not obtained an exemption, partly because of opposition from environmental organizations. In the past, the Olomouc Regional Authority granted a six-year exemption, which was upheld by the Ministry of the Environment, but the Olomouc branch of the Regional Court overturned it. The power plant operator filed a cassation complaint against the decision with the Supreme Administrative Court, but it does not have suspensive effect.

The Chvaletice power plant previously underwent a costly refurbishment. According to its own statement, it would have to invest further substantial sums to meet the required emissions limits for mercury and nitrogen oxides, which it considers disproportionate to the relatively small emissions reduction. It therefore wanted to retain the existing limits for eight years; the original exemption allowed it to release more mercury and nitrogen oxides into the air for a period two years shorter. The power plant claimed that if it did not obtain an exemption, it would have to cease production, threatening the stability of the energy grid. The power plant reported a net profit of more than one billion korunas last year.

The Chvaletice power plant is the youngest lignite-fired power plant in the country and has been operating since 1979. Severní energetická (Sev.en) bought the plant from ČEZ in 2013 for 4.12 billion korunas. Last year, it generated a record 4.9 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity.