HN: Czech court says Chvaletice power plant upgrades should have undergone EIA

At the end of June, the Supreme Administrative Court ruled definitively that the Pardubice Regional Authority and the Ministry of the Environment made mistakes years ago by not requiring an environmental impact assessment (EIA) for the Chvaletice power plant. The authority and the ministry had decided behind closed doors that the reconstruction of part of the power plant did not require an environmental assessment, the so-called EIA procedure, thereby preventing appeals and public participation. Hospodářské noviny reported this today.

„It was not possible to conclude informally that the project was not subject to an environmental impact assessment. A decision had to be issued, published and delivered by public notice. This is important because it allows not only the project proponent but also the affected public to challenge the decision by filing an appeal and, subsequently, a lawsuit,“ presiding judge Petra Weissová said in the written reasoning.

The plaintiff in the case was the law firm Frank Bold, which specialises in environmental protection. The organisation has long criticised the substance of the authorities’ decision as well. Frank Bold argues that the claim that the reconstruction of Chvaletice’s first and second units did not require an environmental assessment because emissions from the chimneys fell as a result, meaning the construction had no environmental impact, is flawed. „The reconstruction extended the power plant’s operating life and thus deepened its environmental impact,“ the lawyer said. However, Frank Bold previously failed to persuade the court with similar arguments in the case of the third and fourth units.

The authorities will now have to decide the matter again. However, since Sev.en EC, owned by billionaire Pavel Tykač, which bought the power plant from the partly state-owned ČEZ in 2013, has already completed the reconstruction of all units, the decision may have a practical impact mainly on a related dispute. That case concerns an exemption allowing the power plant to emit certain amounts of mercury and nitrogen oxides, which the authority and the ministry granted in connection with its reconstruction. Another court revoked the exemption last December following a motion by environmentalists. The new standards have been in force since August 2021.

The Pardubice Regional Authority acknowledges the Supreme Administrative Court’s ruling and will abide by the principles established in its case law. It is not yet clear what the authority decided in the new integrated permit dated 23 June, or how much pollution it allowed the power plant to emit. Only the power plant’s owner can currently access the decision; the public will be able to see it in the second half of July, once the company’s appeal period has expired.