Court overturns expansion of environmental assessment for solar park near Suhindol

The Administrative Court in Veliko Tarnovo overturned a decision by the regional environmental inspectorate which, under the guise of correcting an obvious factual error, expanded the scope of an environmental assessment for a photovoltaic park near Suhindol. BTA reported the ruling on 21 October.

In Decision No. 4098 of 8 October, the court held that an error correction procedure could not be used to add new land plots to an administrative act. According to the civic association Ti Reshavash, the disputed amendment concerned eight further plots totalling more than 60 decares near Suhindol and Koevtsi.

The judges said there was no evidence that the newly added areas had been subject to the required assessments of impacts on nature, human health and biodiversity. The ruling can be appealed to the Supreme Administrative Court within 14 days of notification to the parties.

The judgment concerns the specific amendment to the opinion and is not a final ruling on the entire project. Separate proceedings concerning the original favorable environmental assessment opinion continue. The investment proposal has been disputed publicly in the region for months.

Sources: BTA.

Illustrative photograph, not showing the site or event: American Public Power Association / Unsplash. Used under the Unsplash licence.