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NEW BILL ON ENVIRONMENT IMPACT ASSESSMENT TO GIVE NEW PRIVILEGES TO SMALL HPPS
by Karina Manukyan
Tuesday, October 29, 13:05
Environmentalists are concerned over a new Bill on environment impact
assessment that gives new privileges to small HPPs, Head of EcoLur
NGO Inga Zarafyan told ArmInfo.
She said that the Bill divides the projects that are subject to
the environment impact assessment into three categories depending
on the environment impact level (the highest impact - A category -
the lowest - C). Zarafyan said that small HPPs have been transferred
from the category B (medium impact) to the category C (low impact),
which means that relevant documents on the HPP projects will be
considered just formally.
At present, there are 144 small HPPs in Armenia and 80 licenses have
been issued for construction. The expert claims that the construction
of small HPPs already has many privileges. High tariffs and the 15-year
license are now replenished with the government's decision to assess
the environmental flow of the companies on the basis of the indicators
of the years and days with the lowest precipitations. "For instance,
the environmental flow for the River of Daranak is assessed at 0.007
cu m /sec, which is some 5 liters," Zarafyan said.
Mass protest actions were organized against construction of small
HPPs in the country. The Ministry of Nature Protection refused from
construction of the HPP on the River of Trchkan under public pressure.
Last year the residents some villages in Tavush also protested against
construction of Khachaghbyur-2 HPP on the River of Agstev and achieved
revision of the project.
http://www.arminfo.am/index.cfm?objectid=A34A20F0-4081-11E3-A6B00EB7C0D21663
by Karina Manukyan
Tuesday, October 29, 13:05
Environmentalists are concerned over a new Bill on environment impact
assessment that gives new privileges to small HPPs, Head of EcoLur
NGO Inga Zarafyan told ArmInfo.
She said that the Bill divides the projects that are subject to
the environment impact assessment into three categories depending
on the environment impact level (the highest impact - A category -
the lowest - C). Zarafyan said that small HPPs have been transferred
from the category B (medium impact) to the category C (low impact),
which means that relevant documents on the HPP projects will be
considered just formally.
At present, there are 144 small HPPs in Armenia and 80 licenses have
been issued for construction. The expert claims that the construction
of small HPPs already has many privileges. High tariffs and the 15-year
license are now replenished with the government's decision to assess
the environmental flow of the companies on the basis of the indicators
of the years and days with the lowest precipitations. "For instance,
the environmental flow for the River of Daranak is assessed at 0.007
cu m /sec, which is some 5 liters," Zarafyan said.
Mass protest actions were organized against construction of small
HPPs in the country. The Ministry of Nature Protection refused from
construction of the HPP on the River of Trchkan under public pressure.
Last year the residents some villages in Tavush also protested against
construction of Khachaghbyur-2 HPP on the River of Agstev and achieved
revision of the project.
http://www.arminfo.am/index.cfm?objectid=A34A20F0-4081-11E3-A6B00EB7C0D21663