In the open letter, the organisaions contested the initiative to allocate 3.3 million euros from the state budget to Oltenia Energy Complex, one of Romania’s biggest polluters. The contested decision would allocate these funds for expropriations, in order to expand a lignite quarry in Gorj county, south-west of Romania.
Public utility clause – rolling over the private property right
The expropriations will affect directly some of the inhabitants of the area. The decision project description mentions that some of the owners refuse to leave their homes. The letter signatories argue that the negotiations are not transparent and no government should break the property rights of the owners. The project was described as public utility, which exempts the Oltenia Energy Complex from any negotiations.
Environmental damage
The proposed Government decision involves expropriating hundreds of hectares of land, which is partly forest. The forest would have to be cut down in order to make way for the coal exploitations. Therefore, there is a double impact on the environment – polluting emissions from burning coal, and deforestation.
Possible infringement from the European Commission for breaking competition rules
In its current form, the Romanian Governmental decision will create a competitive advantage for one of the energy market participants. In the case of Jilt Nord quarry, the decision does not mention anything about competition aspects or state aids. The signatory organizations have submitted the letter also to the Romanian Competition Council.
Romanian coal sector – public money agony
The signatory organizations underline the fact that the proposed government decision is economically damaging. The funds allocated to artificially support an inefficient coal sector in Romania, loaded with corruption accusations and obscure political interests. These funds could be directed to economic improvement measures, plans for stimulating investments in new activities, as well as professional reconversion for the people working in the coal sector that are now losing their jobs.
Context:
Currently on the website of the Energy ministry in Romania a project for Governmental Decision is posted, regarding the approval of placement and starting the expropriations for the areas in private property, located in the area of Jilt Nord quarry, which is to be expanded. The quarry is to expand its exploitation capacity to 4.5 million tons of lignite/year.
Contacts:
Ionuț Cepraga, coal campaign coordinator, Greenpeace Romania, 
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+40 724302487