THE REPUBLIC OF SRPSKA DESPITE NUMEROUS WARNINGS ON VIOLATIONS OF PROCEDURES AND ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE PREPARES FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF HPP "BUK BIJELA": THE TEAR OF EUROPE THREATENED AGAIN?

Montenegro has not performed geological measurements for eight years to precisely determine the water level on the border with B&H and whether the river Tara will be flooded by the artificial lake. The environmental permit was issued based on eight-year-old data

While the Montenegrin authorities have not determined in eight years whether the artificial lake that would be created by building a dam in the Republika Srpska will spill over into the territory of Montenegro, the construction of HPP "Buk Bijela" is being prepared on the river Drina near Foca.

The Montenegrin Commission for the Assessment of the Environmental Impact Assessment Study pointed out in April 2013 that the projected dam elevation, the normal deceleration of 434 meters above sea level (MASL), and the terrain elevation at the border of 432.37 MASL, clearly indicate that the accumulation of HPP “Buk Bijela” would spill over into the course of the Tara and the territory of Montenegro, which is why additional measurements are needed.

According to the findings of the Center for Investigative Journalism of Montenegro (CIN-CG), they have not been done to date.

Preparations for the construction have not even been slowed down by appeals of courts and international institutions, before which environmentalists from both sides of the border, together with the Montenegrin state, are united, claiming that the rules are being violated and that the construction will harm the environment.

The river Drina is formed by Montenegrin rivers Tara and Piva at the border with Bosnia-Herzegovina, which collects the waters of the rivers of the Black Sea basin up to the river Sava.

The construction of the dam for a 93-megawatt (MW) power plant, for which a foundation stone was laid in early May, will cost about 220m euros and is financed by the power companies of Serbia and the Republic of Srpska (RS).

Serbian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Mining and Energy Zorana Mihajlovic said that the facility should be completed in four years, while the Minister of Energy and Mining in the RS Government Petar Djokic announced an increase in the installed capacity to 115 - 120 MW.

After "Buk Bijela", the construction of two smaller HPPs, Paunci and Foča, is planned, and the entire project is worth about 520 million euros.

The existing impact assessment from 2013, as they point out, was made based on outdated data, which are not relevant to the current situation. The complaints of the Montenegrin state and non-governmental organizations also emphasize that neither the cross-border consultations from 2012 nor those from 2019 were conducted following the provisions of the Convention and that the renewed environmental permit is invalid.

The Implementation Committee of the Espoo Convention in Geneva should decide whether the Republika Srpska has followed the necessary procedures and whether this process has been done following the European rules as well as to make recommendations. According to the last report of the Committee from May, this issue could be on the agenda at the meeting in February next year, after all the necessary data and clarifications from Montenegro and B&H have been collected.

In May last year, the complaint was filed jointly by the Bosnian NGO Center for the Environment and Resource Aarhus Center and Montenegro's NGOs Green Home and Ozon. Half a year later, at the initiative of Green Home, the Montenegrin Government joined.

According to CIN-CG's findings, non-governmental organizations from Bosnia and Montenegro filed a complaint to the European Energy Community (EnCom) against Bosnia and Herzegovina at the end of June, for non-fulfilling of commitments in the construction of these HPPs.

The complaint, which CIN-CG had access to, emphasizes that B&H has violated numerous directives related to energy and environmental protection.

The Aarhus Resource Center also complained to the RS Supreme Court, requesting that the environmental construction permit be revoked, while the B&H Constitutional Court should decide on the request of 24 members of the Federation Parliament, who are requesting the suspension of the project.

Although the Bosnian entity appears not to be interested in this case, and there is no communication between Podgorica and Banja Luka on the project, B&H central authorities also oppose the construction, arguing that the RS cannot make such decisions on its own.

In 2017, the Government of RS and the China National Aero-technology International Engineering Corporation (AVIC) signed the Memorandum of cooperation on the construction of HPP Buk Bijela. Earlier this month, the President of the United States of America, Joe Biden, added this Chinese company to the blacklist of banned companies in that country for security reasons.

The public relations officer at the RS Ministry of Spatial Planning, Construction and Ecology, Gorjana Rosic stated for CIN-CG that there is no need for new assessments because there were no changes in the conditions under which the previous permit from 2013 was issued and that Montenegro was informed about everything.

The use of Piva's energy began in 1976 with the commissioning of the HPP Piva, with an installed capacity of 342 MW, when it was planned to build two more power plants, "Buk Bijela" and "Komarnica". They were supposed to be about four times stronger than the current projections.

After the adoption of the Declaration on the Protection of the Tara River in 2004 in the Montenegrin Parliament, which permanently prohibits any interventions or works in the canyon protected as a UNESCO world heritage site, the joint construction of "Buk Bijela", which was planned by Montenegro and the Republika Srpska, was abandoned. Now, the construction of smaller HPPs in Gornja Drina in the RS and "Komarnice" and "Kruševa" in Montenegro has been planned.

Suspend construction and conduct a new impact assessment

Nina Kreševljaković, a legal advisor at the Aarhus Resource Center, pointed out that only national authorities and the court have the right to stop the project.

"However, the adoption of complaints by Espoo and EnCom would establish that the Convention and the Treaty were violated by approving the project, and the RS authorities would be obliged to repeat the procedure and prepare a new study, so as not to further violate their international obligations," she explained.

This NGO is also conducting two proceedings before the Supreme Court of the RS to review the judgments of the Basic Court in Banja Luka, which rejected the lawsuits against environmental permits for HPP Buk Bijela and Foča.

"We expect that the Supreme Court will accept our allegations and make a decision that will annul the disputed verdicts. Unfortunately, the proceedings before the Supreme Court are quite lengthy, so we hope that the final decisions will be made by the end of the year ", Kreševljaković stated.

Her colleague from the Montenegrin NGO Green Home, Natasa Kovacevic, expects that the construction of the HPP will be stopped until all the facts related to possible negative impacts on the environment and biodiversity of Tara are established, which, she reminds, apart from the parliamentary declaration, is protected as a national park, a UNESCO natural heritage and potentially a Natura 2000 site.

In the complaints of non-governmental organizations, it is stated that the development of the project for the construction of HPP "Buk Bijela", in a smaller capacity, began in 2012 when the environmental impact assessment procedure was conducted. After concluding at the time that the project would not have a significant negative cross-border impact, Montenegro launched cross-border consultations.

"However, further exchange of information between the two sides has not continued. Competent authorities in Montenegro found out that the construction of the project was stopped, while the competent authorities in the Republika Srpska did not subsequently request the official stance of Montenegro, nor did they inform them about the final decisions on the project ", it is stated in the complaint of the NGO sector.

This document also points out that the period of validity of the environmental permit is set at five years, and that the investor was obliged to submit a request for renewal of the permit three months before its expiration. However, the request for renewal of the license was submitted 20 days later. In May 2018, the RS Ministry still issued a decision on the renewal of the environmental permit. The verdict of the District Court in Banja Luka in May 2019 confirmed that the Ministry violated the regulations, so the renewed environmental permit was annulled. It is one of the proceedings conducted by the Bosnian Aarhus Center.

It Is also stated in the complaints that even though Montenegro has expressed its intention to participate in the new cross-border procedure as a potentially vulnerable party, the RS Ministry has continued the environmental permitting process, without conducting a new environmental impact assessment procedure.

"The obligation to inform and initiate a new environmental impact assessment procedure is inevitable. The period of 7-8 years from the preparation of the Environmental Impact Study of the given plant and the issuance of the environmental permit is unacceptable ", it is pointed out in the complaint of the civil sector to the Board of the Espoo Convention.

It is further explained in the complaint that in the meantime, there have been significant changes - at the location of the project, in the legal framework, but also changes in the basic environmental assumptions.

The complaint concludes that the 2012 impact assessment study, as well as the evidence attached to the 2019 environmental permit application, are based on incomplete and outdated information that does not fully cover the impact on flora and fauna.

The study, published in 2015, also emphasizes the importance of the Drina and its main tributaries, the Lim and the Tara, as the longest habitat for the endangered trout "hucho hucho", where as many as 30 percent of the total population of that species lives.

A study conducted by prof. Dr. Stephen Weiss from the University of Graz and prof. Dr. Predrag Simonović from the University of Belgrade concluded that the project of construction of HPP "Buk Bijela" would most likely negatively affect the ecosystem of the Tara River canyon, within the Durmitor National Park.

Tara is recognized as one of the six main habitats for "hucho hucho" trout in the Balkans, and one of the three most important points on the peninsula for endangered fish species in general.

The findings of this study suggest that the Tara Canyon alone can provide very little habitat for spawning and rearing some of the most important fish species, such as juvenile, grayling, trout, and scorpionfish, and therefore fish must migrate out of the canyon to reach suitable hatchery and end their life cycle.

The study was conducted as part of the "Save the Blue Heart of Europe" campaign, launched by international environmental organizations in 2012, to protect the most valuable rivers in the Balkans from the construction of more than 3,000 planned hydropower plants.

The elevation dilemma at the state border

State Secretary for Ecology in the Government of Montenegro Danilo Mrdak also points out that a precise geodetic measurement must be done to determine the exact elevation of the river surface at the border, ie the level of the shore at the mouth of the Tara and the Piva.

He explains that if the elevation of the river bottom at the state border is 432, where the depth of the river is about two meters, then that elevation 434 means that the water reaches the border and will not sink further.

"If it isn't, then the lake will surely be able to overflow some 100-200 meters," he explains.

That, he adds, can eventually happen if there are heavy rains when the inflow of water on the dam is greater than it can receive.

"Then there would be an overflow. These are extreme cases, but I certainly do not want to ignore that possibility," Mrdak said.

He adds that it should have been done earlier, but he claims that it is not too late now, that it is a simple geodetic survey, which lasts two or three days, and that he will initiate it to be done in agreement with the Government.

"To unequivocally determine the elevation that guarantees us that during the maximum water levels of the dam overflow, the lake will not overflow our territory even a meter," he pointed out.

"If we determine that this is the case, we should try to see by direct communication whether the level of maximum overflow can be lowered by half a meter or a meter. It is best to agree with our neighbors across the border", Mrdak said.

He explains that whether the power will be 93 or 120 MW does not change anything and does not affect Montenegro.

Mrdak, however, unlike his colleagues who did the mentioned study, says that the artificial lake can only have a good effect on the fish on the Montenegrin territory, and that it will provide them with shelter and salvation and that there will be no more poaching, as has been the case hitherto.

"Fish will come out of there upstream to spawn, that will have a positive effect for us. There may be a larger amount of fish. The best example is Plav Lake, where the entire young population has recovered and they are now coming out to the Lim to spawn. The lake will have a good effect on the fish population upstream, it will negatively affect the downstream, but that is already a matter of their assessment ", Mrdak estimates.

Kreševljaković states that, according to the Environmental Impact Study from 2012, the maximum elevation of the reservoir will be 434 meters above sea level, ie. the same as the normal elevation, while Montenegro claims that the altitude at the international border is 432.37 m.

"This means that the accumulation would still include a part of the territory of Montenegro," Kreševljaković emphasized.

Nevertheless, she points out that an impact on the Tara River canyon can certainly be expected, especially on the fish in it, because the area around the planned power plant most likely serves as a hatchery and breeding ground for many fish species living in the Tara River canyon.

Natasa Kovacevic says that the construction of the Buk Bijela hydroelectric power plant brings significant water modification and biodiversity degradation in the length of 30 kilometers in B&H, while it is not clearly defined and presented to what extent this impact will be on the territory of Montenegro.

She says that the impacts on Montenegro have not been assessed in terms of possible accidents (large landslides, rockfalls, induced earthquakes caused by water mass, overflow of other hydropower plants, failures) and other cumulative impacts such as climate change, raging waters, etc.

"HPP Buk Bijela will lead to fragmentation of the habitat of juveniles and other endangered fish species, which proves that the construction project of HPP Buk Bijela would most likely harm the ecosystem of the Tara River canyon, within the Durmitor National Park," Kovacevic said.

Podgorica and Banja Luka play the 'Chinese whispers'

The complaint of the state of Montenegro to the Espoo Board states that the Republika Srpska did not consult them in the procedure of construction of HPP "Buk Bijela", thus violating the provisions of the Espoo Convention. They believe that the assessment study must be updated to give a final opinion on the impact of construction on Montenegro.

Rosic, however, estimates that the allegations about incomplete and outdated data on the impact on the flora and fauna of that area are unfounded, because, he says, they were obtained from professional institutions. He says that they have carried out all the necessary procedures and issued a new environmental permit for the current construction in December 2018, following the Law on Environmental Protection.

"Given the fact that the construction of the facility was not started until the application for the environmental permit was submitted, nor were the conditions regarding the location and the project changed, the procedure for issuing a new environmental permit was initiated," she said.

When applying for the issuance of the environmental permit, as he claims, it was proven that the conditions under which the permit was issued in 2013 did not change.

Rosić also emphasizes that, in the procedure conducted in 2012/2013, consultations were held with Montenegro and that the team from the RS accepted to hold a public hearing, but, as they say, the competent authorities from Montenegro canceled it and did never request it again.

"Also, the competent authorities from Montenegro did not submit comments within the deadline, after which the environmental impact assessment procedure was continued following the Law on Environmental Protection. The official position of the competent authorities of Montenegro was not submitted even after the expiration of the deadline," the RS Ministry emphasizes.

Rosic explains that, as they did not receive the official position of Montenegro, they were not obliged to submit the final decision of the Ministry from the environmental impact assessment procedure.

On the other hand, the Montenegrin Ministry of Ecology, Spatial Planning and Urbanism emphasizes that it is necessary to make a new environmental impact assessment to get an insight into the environmental impacts to Montenegro.

"Studies from 2012 cannot be considered relevant, because they contain outdated data on the state of the environment, and the issuance of a new environmental permit from 2019 is a completely new procedure, which implies conducting cross-border consultations," the Ministry representative Brankica Cmiljanovic stated.

Cmiljanović explains that based on the opinion of the Commission for the Evaluation of Environmental Impact Assessment Studies, which was formed in Montenegro, it was stated that HPP Buk Bijela, with the planned elevation of normal deceleration, will enter the territory of Montenegro. It was also pointed out that these studies from 2012 should be updated. After the response of the Committee for the implementation of the Espoo Convention, they will decide what steps to take.

Mitrovic: HPP does not pose a danger to rafting, but it poses a threat to campsites

Environmental activist Milorad Mitrović claims that the disturbance of the microclimate will harm the territory of Montenegro because it is not determined by state borders.

HPP Buk Bijela will have less power and smaller dimensions than previously planned, he explains.

He stated that the cities of Foča and Goražde will be located between two large hydro-accumulations, and it is inevitable that the climate will be disturbed and that it will affect the health of the population and biodiversity.

"It is difficult to predict how and to what extent this will be reflected and what the consequences will be. Significant research of eminent experts should be conducted," Mitrovic said.

He says that the HPP should not negatively affect rafting in Montenegro, which usually ends at river mouths. However, numerous campsites built from the RS border to the bridge on the river mouth will be endangered.

"People who rafted on both the Tara and the Drina will be deprived of dozens of already built rafting camps. They will be able to raft the Tara to the river mouth and under the dam 10 kilometers from Foča to Gorazde, which means that 50 percent of that territory will be taken away by HPPs ", he explains.

The president of the NGO Breznica is not sure if any disputes can stop this process, "because the RS is behaving like a sovereign and independent state, which disposes of its resources and territory without asking the Federation for permission."

He states that the laying of the foundation stone and the construction of the foundation for that hydroelectric power plant was done in the early 70s of the last century. At that time, a large part of the land was expropriated, and the construction of roads and numerous bridges and overpasses began, which are only reminders of the intention to build the HPP.

Mitrovic also states that the NGO Breznica came into possession in 2004 of documents made by the Government of the RS and Montenegro regarding the joint construction of HPP Buk Bijela, where Montenegro undertook to submerge the most attractive part of the Tara in the length of 16 to 18 kilometers to enjoy the right of pre-emption to purchase electricity from that HPP at market prices.

"Breznica" members actively participated in the protest against that construction, after which the Declaration on the Protection of the Tara River was adopted in the Parliament.

EU: Espoo rules must be respected

When asked about the possible threat to the Tara and the ecosystem, the Delegation of the European Union to Montenegro pointed out that both countries are signatories to the Espoo Convention, and that in the case of the potentially harmful impact of hydropower construction, states must contact the Institution and respect European rules in the process.

Djukanovic: The construction of HPP will benefit the environment

The President of the Board of Electric Power Company of Montenegro, Milutin Đukanović, told CIN-CG that he fully supports the construction of these hydropower plants in the RS and that he prases the project.

"Anyone who thinks that the construction of these HPPs will harm the Tara River or the environment is not informed about this project. In my opinion, it will only benefit the environment, in the sense that it will make it more beautiful. I think that this project is worthwhile, and the reasons for opposing it can only be political, " Djukanovic said.

He adds that Montenegro is not involved in the construction and that there is no direct benefit from it, but that "Montenegro will construct Komarnica and Krusevo, which will be compatible with this HPP on the Drina, and that from the energy point of view if we work synchronously, everyone would benefit ”.

"Electricity must be produced and hydro potentials must be used, of course not at the expense of the environment," Djukanovic said.

Decisions pending

The RS Supreme Court told CIN-CG that they have not yet made decisions in cases in which a Bosnian NGO is conducting proceedings against the RS Ministry over the issuance of a permit for the construction of the Buk Bijela and Foca HPPs.

The B&H Constitutional Court is also in the process of initiating 24 deputies in that country, asking the court to stop the construction of these dams, because that concession is invalid according to them. After all, such decisions must be made at the level of the Federation, not the entities. The Constitutional Court told CIN-CG that they have not yet decided in that case, nor a temporary measure, which asked to stop the construction.

Maja BORIČIĆ