EcoLur
On November 14, the RA Administrative Court dismissed a lawsuit by a group of Jermuk residents demanding that the court obligated RA Minister of Environment to recognize State Environmental Impact Assessment Opinion No. 35 of the Amulsar Project as invalid.
Nazeli Vardanyan, Jermuk residents’ barrister, told EcoLur that the court had misinterpreted the provision of the new environmental factor in the Law on Environmental Impact Assessment and Expertise and they would, therefore, file a complaint with the RA Administrative Court of Appeal based on these grounds. Among these documents were the expert opinion prepared by the Lebanese company "Earth link & Advanced Resources Development" (ELARD) on Amulsar project, the letter from the Minister of Environment Erik Grigoryan consisting of 13 points addressed to the Government of the Republic of Armenia and Decision No. 30-A dated 27.08.2018 of RA Environmental and Soil Inspection Body, the assessments and conclusions of 4 experts from three international expert organizations (from Australia, US and Canada) carried out by the order of Harut Bronozian of American-Armenian origin, the World Bank International Finance Corporation Ombudsman’s Office letter, WWF Opinion.
Particularly noteworthy is the paragraph 13 of the letter of the Minister of Environment, which says: The "Radiation Background" section (Amulsar EIA Document) should be fully revised, taking into account the report of uranium exploration in the area of Amulsar in 1952-54. If the mineral activity exceeds the value prescribed by the RA legislation, its management shall be carried out in accordance with the requirements of RA Government Decision N439-N of April 25, 2013.”
The Minister had requested to instruct RA Environmental and Soil Inspection Body to carry out inspections. However, after two and a half months there is no official report on the results of the inspections, except that Deputy Chief of Inspectorate Igor Sargsyan was fired for not conducting inspections in Amulsar.
November 19, 2019 at 15:02