Minister conditionally approves oil plant environmental impact report

Minister of Climate Kristen Michal conditionally approved the environmental impact assessment report for the Enefit 280-2 oil plant, on the condition that the plant can operate until the end of 2034. Photo: Tairo Lutter

Estonian Minister of Climate Kristen Michal conditionally approved the environmental impact assessment report for the Enefit 280-2 oil plant -- on the condition that the plant can operate until the end of 2034 -- and submitted the necessary legislative amendments to the parliament for issuing a time-limited integrated permit.

Michal explained that the Supreme Court clearly states that a construction permit and integrated permit can be issued if the plant fits within Estonia's climate goals.

«An analysis by the Climate Ministry shows that the oil plant fits within the climate goals until 2035. If the plant operated with the same technology in 2035, it would constitute 10 percent of Estonia's goals, and other companies would have to make unreasonable efforts to achieve the state's goal,» Michal noted in a press release.

«The oil plant's large environmental footprint diminishes the possibilities for new investments and reduces the competitiveness of all other Estonian companies. We found the best possible solution in this complex situation, and use what we have for a limited time, after which the production technology must be changed to be less polluting,» he added.

With the establishment of the plant essentially completed, the Climate Ministry sought a legally functional solution to enable the plant to be lauched at least temporarily with the current technology for the return of investment and to preserve jobs. The state-owned energy company Eesti Energia has ten years to develop and implement less polluting technologies. A new environmental impact assessment must be prepared and a new integrated permit applied for these technologies to be adopted.

It is necessary to amend the Industrial Emissions Act for issuing a time-limited integrated permit. The climate minister also submitted the proposal for the necessary legislative change to the parliament's environment committee on Friday.

The Ministry of Climate believes that certain changes must still be made to the environmental impact assessment, to which the Supreme Court also drew attention. Once Eesti Energia has made the necessary changes, the Environmental Board can approve the environmental impact report, and Enefit Power can apply to the Narva-Joesuu city government for a new construction permit. The environmental impact assessment is also the basis for submitting an integrated permit application to the Environmental Board. The process and issuance of the integrated permit take a maximum of six months. The plant can be started after the integrated permit is issued.

On Oct. 11, the Supreme Court annulled the construction permit granted to Enefit Power, belonging to the Eesti Energia group, for building the oil plant, due to errors made in assessing the environmental impact.