Bill clearing completion of hydropower projects in Romanian protected areas prompts tensions

A draft law approved by Parliament after a negative vote in the Senate was overruled by the Chamber of Deputies, clearing the hydropower projects in the environmentally-protected areas that held the necessary permits as of mid-2007, when the environmental protection was instated, received harsh criticism from environment minister Diana Busoianu (Save Romania Union - USR).

Minister of energy Bogdan Ivan (PSD) praised the bill, arguing that it will result in 214 MW of new generation capacities.

Minister Diana Buzoianu said that this law is "a shame that will destroy, however, extraordinarily valuable forests in the country for generations to come," Digi24 reported.

She also said that environmental laws do not block hydropower plants, but only inefficient ones that "no longer produce energy because the waters in Romania no longer have the respective flows."

The bill that unlocks strategic hydropower investments, essential projects for the country's energy security, has been adopted," Bogdan Ivan wrote on Facebook on October 16.

The reaction of the minister of energy comes after the deputies adopted, by decision, a draft law that provides that the modification of the boundaries of protected areas is possible only if, on June 29, 2007, investment objectives for the construction of hydropower facilities were approved for the respective areas, by government decision or state decrees, which were under execution or demarcated before this date.

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