MP Sebastian Burduja, former Minister of Energy, launched the petition “Hydropower Saves Romania”, which calls for the urgent unblocking of hydropower projects in advanced stages of execution and their declaration as national security projects. Thus, Burduja draws attention, on social networks, to the legislative proposal submitted to the Chamber of Deputies last month “regarding some measures necessary for the implementation of national security projects in the field of hydropower,” available on the chamber’s website.
He claims that Romania currently has several hydropower plants completed in a proportion of 55-98%, which do not produce electricity due to administrative and legal blockages. Among them are: Bumbești-Livezeni Hydropower Development (Jiu River) — over 90% completed (Dumitra stage – 98%); Răstolița Hydropower Plant — the dam is completed, the station is completed, only the “deforestation” of the area where the reservoir will be located is missing, which was deforested decades ago (98% stage); AHE Cerna-Belareca, Surduc-Siriu and Pașcani.
“These projects, started before 1989, were blocked in court by environmental organizations such as Declic and Bankwatch, just as Greenpeace is constantly trying to block the exploitation of Romanian gas from the Black Sea,” the liberal MP claims.
He asks the Ministry of Environment “to immediately exempt all hydropower plants in an advanced stage of execution from the interminable environmental impact assessment procedure provided for by Law no. 292/2018. The crisis situation and the major public interest prevail over any bureaucracy.”
In this context, the Romanian Parliament should urgently adopt a special law through which unfinished hydropower projects are declared, by law, national security projects.
“This law must allow the completion of works by derogation from standard procedures, as was done for gas pipelines or highways… The Minister of the Environment should stop the institutional blockage: We request that they stop requesting additional approvals, redundant studies and impact reassessments for historical projects already evaluated. Hidroelectrica must be allowed to put the turbines into operation, not to move papers through the courts. Romania’s energy security is non-negotiable. We can no longer afford to treat strategic dams with indifference in the face of systematic sabotage by 2-3 environmental associations, which have their own agenda. This unfortunately serves the interests of Romania’s adversaries, who want to keep us dependent on their energy resources,” the document also states.
