The Estonian Environmental Board declared the environmental impact assessment report of the Auvere Enefit 280-2 oil plant as having met the requirements, after the impact assessment is completed, the authority will make a decision within approximately six months on granting an integrated environmental permit necessary to start the plant’s operations.
“Declaring the environmental impact assessment report as meeting the requirements means that the Environmental Board now has the necessary basic materials to start considering whether and to what extent the oil plant can start working,” Erik Kosenkranius, deputy director general of the Environmental Board, said in a press release.
The environmental impact assessment report deals with the potential environmental impact of new oil production unit Enefit 280-2 in Auvere. In addition to the data submitted in Enefit’s application to the Environmental Board and the documents of the best possible technology, the report recognized as meeting the requirements serves as the basis for processing the integrated environmental permit necessary for the operation of the oil plant and setting the conditions for the permit.
“The oil plant will receive the integrated environmental permit necessary to start operations only if we make sure that there are mitigation and compensation mechanisms to balance the negative environmental impact and that the planned production volume is acceptable. During the permit procedure, the company can change its initial application,” Kosenkranius said.
This environmental impact assessment report has also taken into account and addressed those issues that were not present in the impact assessment report that was the basis of the building permit that was annulled by the court. Thus, in the report signed on Tuesday, the dangers related to the handling of pyrolysis gas and phenol water are outlined and the possible impact of the plant on the Natura 2000 network areas is discussed.
The report was prepared by OU Hendrikson & Ko. Opinions and proposals were submitted to the report by the Health Board, the Rescue Board, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of the Environment, the Ministry of Economic Affair and Communications, and the Estonian Chamber of Environmental Associations, and later, in coordination, by the Ministry of Climate and the Ministry of Regional Affairs and Agriculture.
Part of the permit application process is disclosure; before the decision is made, the draft of granting or refusing the integrated environmental permit is made public. The environmental impact assessment report recognized as meeting the requirements is also public and available in the environmental decision information portal KOTKAS.
Source: BNS
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