Less than one year after committing not to finance new coal power in the developed world, JPMorgan Chase uses policy loophole to finance company planning new coal capacity in Poland

ENERGA Finance AB – the Baa1/BBB rated finance subsidiary of ENERGA S.A., the Polish state-owned utility – started a roadshow this week to convince investors that the bond issuance with which it is planning to raise a minimum of EUR 250 million has nothing to do with a 1000 MW coal-fired power plant in Poland that the parent company is developing with another coal-heavy state-owned utility, ENEA S.A. Two banks – JPMorgan Chase and BNP Paribas – are arranging the deal, putting their credibility up for sale.

Rainforest Action Network, Foundation “Development YES – Open-Pit Mines NO”, and other civil society organizations consider deals like this a climate test for how seriously international financial institutions take their own policies as well as the Paris climate agreement.

Less than one year ago, JPMorgan Chase committed that the bank “will not provide project financing or other forms of asset-specific financing where the proceeds will be used to develop a new coal-fired power plant located in a high income OECD country”– including Poland.Yet JPMorgan Chase has now signed up to underwrite bonds for a wholly owned subsidiary of Energy SA, whose electricity generation mix is 68% coal, and is searching for ways to finance its recently revitalized plans for the Ostrołęka C 1000 MW coal power plant, which will cost EUR 1.5 billion.

ENERGA aims to raise capital by launching eurobonds through its wholly-owned, Sweden-registered subsidiary whose sole purpose is to secure corporate finance for the mother company with no strings attached. The purpose of the bonds is that the money raised will be for the utility’s “general corporate purposes” – and it shouldn’t be difficult for JPMorgan Chase to see what that means when this one planned coal plant would double ENERGA S.A.’s coal generation capacity.

Poland is the last country in the European Union where new coal-fired power plants are still planned. It is also the country with an energy system most heavily controlled by the state. As one of the four state-controlled coal heavy energy utilities, ENERGA S.A. is also in talks with the European Investment Bank about financing a hybrid bond launch worth EUR 250 million that would also enable ENERGA to proceed with the Ostrołęka C project.ENERGA S.A. first launched eurobonds in March 2013, when BNP Paribas, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, and HSBC arranged for the company to obtain EUR 500 million.

Back in 2012, ENERGA had shelved its power plant construction plans, but in November 2015 the plans for the Ostrołęka coal plant were restarted. According to the energy consulting company Ecofys, any new coal-fired power plant is inconsistent with a 2°C scenario,and yet there are currently more than 2,000 coal fired power plants under preparation to be built in the world. If all were to be built, according to Climate Action Tracker, coal power emissions in 2030 would be 400% higher than what is consistent with limiting warming to under 2°C.

Kuba Gogolewski, Finance Campaigner at Foundation “Development YES – Open-Pit Mines NO”, said:

“By supporting ENERGA’s bond issue while it is building a coal plant that would more than double its coal generation capacity, and by helping to keep afloat the country’s collapsing mining sector, JPMorgan and BNP Paribas clearly show that profit comes first and that their climate commitments only go skin deep. Polish communities aspire to a healthier and cleaner future and ENERGA Finance will fund the opposite. Investors buying ENERGA Finance bonds have to know that they will take part of the responsibility for stalling the diversification of the Polish energy system away from coal and keeping Polish citizens away from clean air to breathe. We call on all investors to stay away from ENERGA Finance eurobond launch, and on JPMorgan and BNP Paribas to cut their ties with ENERGA until it drops its coal plans.”

Jason Opeña Disterhoft, Climate and Energy Senior Campaigner, Rainforest Action Network, said:

“The ENERGA bond issue is a test of JPMorgan Chase’s seriousness on climate change. As we approach the one-year anniversary of its new coal policy, the bank is looking to exploit a loophole to finance a new coal-fired power plant in an OECD country that is already locked into coal dependence. Now it has to choose: does it care more about coal or the climate?”

source: us6.campaign-archive2.com

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Based on a range of evidence from Albania and Greece, where TAP construction is under way and posing threats to numerous communities, and Italy, where the €5 billion gas pipeline’s construction is stalled due to extensive local and regional opposition as well as ongoing legal challenges, the new analysis comes a day ahead of the latest high-level Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council meeting in Azerbaijan which will involve representation from the corridor’s transit countries, the European Commission, the USA and international public development banks.

According to the TAP company, the 879 kilometre pipeline project will affect approximately 19,060 plots of land and approximately 45,000 land owners and users in Albania, Greece and Italy. At least 13 complaints from affected individuals and stakeholder groups about the TAP company’s implementation of the project in Albania, Greece and Italy have already been submitted to the European Investment Bank, which has been considering the TAP project for finance since August 2015.

Reflecting these complaints, the NGO analysis identifies problematic issues related to compensation for land owners, the TAP company’s heavy-handed approach to land acquisition and pipeline routing, and – in Italy – the project’s fundamental lack of preparedness which has resulted in a string of legal disputes still awaiting verdicts in the Italian courts.

Xavier Sol, director of Counter Balance, said:

“The European Commission’s alarming cosying up to the hardline Azerbaijan regime for more fossil fuels which Europe doesn’t need is now resulting in serious, direct headaches for Europeans, as our new analysis of the TAP project reveals. The likes of the European Investment Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development which are considering finance for TAP should be aware of these ongoing failures in the project construction. If they should choose to rubber stamp TAP in its current state, it would not give the project a clean bill of health for private banks to enter into the financing.”

Yann Louvel, Climate and Energy campaign coordinator at BankTrack, said:

“Private banks need to be aware about the shoddy way in which the TAP project is proceeding on the ground, far removed from the public relations fanfare ringing out from the governments involved. Serious impacts to communities and the environment are cropping up and not getting resolved. For banks which have signed up to the Equator Principles, this has to mean that TAP is a no-go investment. The reputation of the Equator Principles has suffered recently from the Dakota Access Pipeline debacle in the US, and banks need to make sure these lessons are learned when it comes to TAP.”

source: us6.campaign-archive1.com

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The depth of the energy poverty challenge in SEE is due to the cultural, climatic and political characteristics of SEE. There is little political interest in the issue of energy poverty in the region, and hence the problem is less defined, monitored or tackled than in Western Europe. The number of people who are not poor but cannot afford adequate energy services is higher in SEE than in other parts of Europe.

Many dwellings in the region are inadequately built and highly inefficient. People often live in shockingly bad conditions, which adversely affect their health. Finally, many people in SEE are not aware of how to use energy efficiently, which leads to wasteful use and higher energy bills.
It is imperative that both the citizens and the governments of SEE make a change. Therefore, Intelligent Energy Europe funded project REACH, which contributes to energy poverty abatement by empowering households to save energy and by calling for structural measures, has contacted EU decision-makers and proposed a few steps towards making a change. The key step in the SEE region is to recognise and define the energy poverty challenge, and to agree on monitoring indicators.

The next step is to integrate energy poverty into national energy efficiency and social care programmes, carefully designing them so that they are available and accessible to those in need. Apart from taking low-cost energy efficiency measures, other ways of tackling energy poverty should also include the replacement of inefficient household appliances and heating systems, different levels of retrofitting buildings, and subsidies which are suitable and useful for vulnerable households. State-owned social housing should be renovated to improve the housing conditions. Financial support, such as deduction of energy bills, should be used as a measure after all cost-effective energy efficiency options have been implemented.
The planning and implementation of energy poverty measures should be approached in a cross-sectoral manner, involving a wide range of stakeholders in the process, and especially focusing on creating links between the social, energy, health and environmental sectors. It is also important to work on aligning energy and social policies and linking energy poverty policies to a wider array of policies, such as employment, housing or pension policies.

Finally, governments need to ensure the sustainability of the energy poverty policies and measures by transferring the responsibility of addressing the problem from local actors and NGOs to their own domain.
As the recently proposed Winter Energy Package works towards addressing energy poverty at the EU level, the recommendations of project REACH on the specifics of SEE must be considered by the EU decision-makers to ensure that these specifics are adequately covered by EU-level legislation.

The post Energy Poverty in South-East Europe Calls for Immediate Action appeared first on Environment Energy Mining Watch SEE.

Albanian campaign groups are urgently calling for support to protect a pristine area of the country under threat from three hydroelectric power projects.

The Valbona Valley in northern Albania faces destruction from the planned works, despite being within the protected area of the Valbona National Park.

Catherine Bohne, campaigner from Albanian NGO TOKA, and owner of the website Journey to Valbona, says the developments began without any public consultation, and she has sent out an urgent appeal to help save this presently unspoilt part of the country. Campaigners say the work is illegal and they are now launching a legal challenge against the developments.

Catherine said: “The country is poor, the people are very isolated, and have been striving hard to make an environmentally friendly tourist attraction of the beautiful and so far unspoilt Valbona Valley – a biodiverse haven for plants and animals.

“It is now under threat from three large hydroelectric projects. The price of energy is falling, and solar will kick in soon, with the result that even the profit expected will not be earned.”

The Albanian Government, under former Prime Minister Sali Berisha, granted three concession contracts for the construction of six hydropower plants along the Valbona river.

The campaign against the hydroelectric projects started in January 2016 – when Catherine says plans were seen for the Dragobia Energy plants entirely by accident.

An Environmental Impact Assessment was carried out, but campaigners say it was of extremely poor quality and claim that developers failed to properly assess a number of issues such as:

Biodiversity: The EIA offers no detailed analysis of species and habitats in the area; moreover, species regularly seen in the NP are not even mentioned. EIA doesn’t refer to the area’s “protected” status, and doesn’t mention the conformity with Bern or Espoo Conventions nor with EU Habitats and Bird Directives.

Development: Campaigners say this did not meet legal deadlines. The EIA was based on the outdated legal requirement from 2003 instead on the new Law No. 10440 that has already been in effect. Furthermore, the project missed the two-year deadline to start construction works, so the environmental license should automatically be invalidated and the process of the new EIA started.

Public consultation: This has been called inadequate and ineffective. A page with 20 signatures from one small village was submitted as evidence of the EIA public consultation (the Valbona Valley is home to over 1.000 people). Campaigners say that affected people were not adequately consulted and that a petition among locals against the hydropower development gathered 94 signatures.

No consultation with the neighbouring countries: The EIA makes reference to the “creation of roads through virgin territories” to Montenegro, which is not part of licensing documents. The intent to construct a major road route to Montenegro, delivering increased auto traffic to Prokletije National Park, implies transboundary impact, and requires consultation with Montenegro under the Espoo Convention.

Poor project design and planning: Campaigners say the project design is based on a river discharge of 12.66 m3/s, but elsewhere the developer reports that the river maximum flow is only 7 m3/s and around 3 m3/s during dry months. Hydrology data is out of date and although power lines and roads are drawn in licensing maps, no description of their construction parameters or impacts is made.

In a letter to Julian Beqiraj, Director of the National Environment Agency of Albania, Professor Emeritus and Member of the Science Academies of Denmark and Poland, Arne Strid writes: “Scenery, geology, wildlife and flora combine to make the Valbona Valley and the surrounding mountains one of the finest natural habitats in the Balkans and indeed in the whole of Europe. Botanically it is characterized by a unique combination of Mediterranean and arctic-alpine elements, and a high degree of endemism.
“I have worked on the Balkan flora for 50 years and written many books and articles on the subject. A couple of years ago I spent a few days in the Valbona area and found it one of the most interesting habitats I have encountered in my many ears of travelling in the Balkans.

“It would seem wise and farsighted to preserve this unique natural habitat for future generations. I thus respectfully ask you to postpone any decision on development projects in the area until the environmental impact has been thoroughly studied and suggestions for sustainable development have been considered.”

Since work commenced on September 28, access roads have been constructed, which were not included in the project plans or in the Environmental Impact Assessment.

The campaign against the developments has gained momentum since a jazz concert against the hydropower plants was held last month, and campaigners are now rallying for more supporters against the developments.

source: theecologist.com

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Its latest failure relates to a contract for the construction of a power plant in Turkey. The operator of the power plant, Adularya, alleges that the components and machines provided by a Czech exporter, the Vítkovice Machinery Group, are not suitable for the low quality coal that is used at its Yunus Emre power plant. Neither side wants to take responsibility for the dispute, so the future of the plant is now unclear.

Since the beginning of 2017, the Czech government has sought a solution with its Turkish counterpart since the latter took over Adularya after the political purge in 2016. There is however currently no agreement among Czech politicians about how to resolve the situation, which is concerning in light of the ECA’s missteps in recent years.

The Czech ECA is made up of two institutions: the Czech Export Bank, which lends to Czech exporters or their customers, and the Export Guarantee and Insurance Corporation, which insures these loans. Together they provide support to Czech companies that want to do business in areas with risky conditions.

As a response to the financial crisis and thus a desire to boost exports, the CEB and EGAP became more lenient in evaluating the financial and political risks of the projects and so a number of loans were made to projects that otherwise would not normally have received them. Without the proper safeguards in place, a number of problematic projects emerged. For example, a police investigation led to accusations that two EGAP managers falsified information about the construction of a cement factory in Vietnam. The project lost EUR 30 million when the construction failed.

CEB and EGAP have also supported the construction of a number of new coal power plants since then, several of which have failed, resulting in more losses for the state. The first such failure involved the Kolubara power plant in Serbia, which received a loan in 1999 following damage it sustained during the war in the former Yugoslovaia. Part of the loan was never repaid. EGAP also paid for power plants at Balloki and Muridke in Pakistan because the Czech supplier was not able to finish the construction.

Three other dubious projects backed by the ECA are located in Russia. A power plant in Kurganskaja had difficulties with paying back CEB, because of losses it incurred as a result of a devalued Ruble. The Krasavino power plant, which is already running, split into two divisions, neither of which is willing to pay for the loan from CEB. There is also an unfinished project at Poljarnaja.

CEB stopped project financing because its Russian counterpart did adhere to its contract. The gas-fired power plant is not going to be finished and therefore, CEB will lose a significant amount of money on the deal. Financial losses like these had to be paid by the state, by public money. It is estimated that this will cost the Czech state CZK 20 billion.

In spite of these failures, CEB and EGAP were determined to build a second lignite power station in Pljevlja, Montenegro. From the beginning, the project was questioned by several NGOs, Bankwatch included. Škoda Praha – owned by the Czech state – was chosen for the project under dubious circumstances, for which the Montenegrin government had to adopt a special law.

Experts and local NGOs doubt future energy demand scenarios and the real price of the power plant, which will be in fact much higher in the future. The operation of Pljevlja II can be feasible only with very creative accounting, and more likely this project will bring financial burden too the Montenegrin government.

These shortcomings are only exacerbated by the climate and health problems posed by the project. The present power plant, Pljevlja I, already causes significant air pollution in the Pljevlja valley. If both power plants were to operate, pollution would reach critical levels, greatly impacting the health of local residents and their health.

CEB did eventually dodge a bullet with Pljevlja, announcing in October 2016 that the project was risky and thus refusing to participate.

Nevertheless, the unsuccessful projects financed by CEB and EGAP raise alarms about its decision-making and interest in fossil fuels, which does not correspond with the Paris Agreement. There is a need for more transparency within the Czech ECAs. Both CEB and EGAP operate with public finances, so the public has the right to actively participate in the environmental decision-making related to its operations.

As such, ECAs should actively disclose information about projects that they discuss at an early stage. In this way, NGOs can evaluate the potential environmental impacts and the public can express its views. This will go a long way to help avoiding the conflicts and criticisms that have arisen so far across the portfolios of CEB and EGAP.

source: bankwatch.org

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The decision comes in response to a complaint filed by the environmental NGO Ekotim regarding the environmental permit enabling the construction of the 350 MW Banovići power plant in north-eastern Bosnia-Herzegovina.

The complaint, filed in July 2016, claimed that the Federal Ministry of Environment and Tourism had failed to require pollution limits as obliged under the Energy Community Treaty.

Under the Treaty, any power plant entering operation after 1 January 2019 must be in line with the EU’s Industrial Emissions Directive Chapter III. However, the environmental permit for Banovići power plant failed to specify this requirement.

The Energy Community Secretariat, in a letter to Ekotim dated 8 February, stated it would inform the Ministry that the permit needs to be changed to stipulate compliance with the Directive.

The Banovići coal-fired power plant is one of several new power plants currently planned in Bosnia-Herzegovina threatening to lock the country into dirty fossil fuels energy for decades to come. Local civil society groups and Bankwatch have been repeatedly warning about the ramifications of this trend and working to halt it.

Ekotim’s complaint is the first of a series of lawsuits and formal complaints on coal plants in the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovinab to be concluded.

A lawsuit seeking the cancellation of the environmental permit for the Banovići power plant was filed to the Sarajevo Cantonal Court by Ekotim on April 15, 2016. Also in April 2016, a lawsuit seeking the cancellation of the environmental permit for the Ramići cooling water reservoir for the Banovići plant was filed to the Sarajevo Cantonal Court. In January this year, a further case was filed against the decision to grant an environmental permit for the Čubrić ash landfill for the power plant. All three cases are still ongoing.

A lawsuit seeking the cancellation of the environmental permit for the planned Tuzla 7 power plant was also filed to the Sarajevo Cantonal Court by Ekotim on September 29, 2016, along with a separate formal complaint to the Energy Community on Tuzla 7 shortly afterwards.

“Ekotim has repeatedly informed the Ministry of Environment and Tourism of the deficiencies of the planned power plants at Banovići and Tuzla during the public hearings for these projects, but our most important comments have been ignored. We are glad to see that the Energy Community has stepped in to resolve this issue”, said Rijad Tikveša, President of Ekotim.

“Let us hope that the Energy Community’s findings will finally force the Federal government to examine Banovići and Tuzla 7 in more detail before, rather than after, our public companies indebt themselves to the tune of almost EUR 1 billion”, he added.

source: bankwatch.org

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Given the numerous violations deriving from the process, in violation of the Public Procurement Law and the lack of basic analyses, KOSID considers that the continuation of this project will cause great financial, economic, social and environmental damages in Kosovo. Therefore, an investigation of this process is extremely important in order to protect the public interest.

Violations and irregularities of the project, ‘Kosova e Re’, were identified through the chronology published by KOSID, “A short history of a big failure of energy policies in Kosovo.” Since the beginning of the project idea for the new power plant, there is a lack of explicit references to which Kosovo laws were applicable.

According to this chronology, KOSID identifies that KNPP project, since from the time it was an idea, and thus far as a potential project for construction, has carried forward numerous violations, irregularities, changes in generating capacity etc. Above all, more alarming are the Kosovo’s law violations from the project, which commence from the Law on Public Procurement, Article 32.4, which even though requires that during the conduct of a procurement activity to have two or more bidders, in the case of NKPP, the tendering process has continues with one single bidder – Contour Global.

Furthermore, the Government is giving false information on the procedural developments of the project and that the project has been exempted from almost every law possible, such as: the Law on Public Private Partnership and Concessions in Infrastructure and Procedures, the Law on Public Private Partnership and the Law on Public Procurement. The legitimization of such a thing was made by a decision of the Government of Kosovo No. 08/17, dated 01.06.2011.

The Government’s Decision states that: ‘the Law on Public Private Partnership was not appropriate for the project, since the provisions of this law do not apply to projects where potential bidders have already been pre-qualified. Nevertheless, on April 5, 2013 on a press release of the Ministry of Economic Development it was stated the contrary, that ‘New Kosovo’ project will be implemented with a Private Public Partnership.

These violations of the laws in force in the country, the Government of Kosovo is justifying by relying on procurement procedures in accordance with good practices and procurement guidelines as defined by the International Development Association of the World Bank. According to KOSID, World Bank standards or those of any other organization cannot suspend Kosovo’s laws in force, since they cannot be legislative basis for Kosovo but only a guideline for the process. Furthermore, these standards require full transparency of the process, but the government has never been transparent with this project.

Moreover, the process for building the proposed power plant is being pushed without the completion of the Environmental Impact Assessment.

The EIA is a process which should determine if the project is feasible, show to what extent the project will harm the environment, show the expected social implications from this project, and show what the electricity price will be after the construction of this power plant. Moving ahead without this important assessment is a pure violation of the Law No. 03/L-214 on Environmental Impact Assessment, which is mandatory for power plants over 50 MW. The World Bank also failed to finish and publish the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment study which would serve to inform the World Bank’s Board of Directors in whether or not to support and approve the Partial Risk Guarantee for the Proposed New Power.

In addition to law and procedural violations by the proposed “New Kosovo” Power Plant, mining associated with the Kosovo Power Project will forcefully displace, putting at risk of project-induced impoverishment, over 7,000 Kosovars. Furthermore, there are additional concerns relating to air pollution, and financial burden on taxpayers. A 2017 report from the International Renewable Energy Agency indicates that there is cost-competitive renewable energy potential in Kosovo through solar PV and small hydropower plants.

Even though NKPP project has been under development for more than 10 years, basic questions such as the capacity, business model, technology that will be used, financial cost etc. of the plant remain unanswered. KOSID requires for the NKPP to be canceled, taking into account the numerous violations during these 10 years. If Kosovo continues with this trend, for another ten years it will have extremely serious problems. Therefore, it is important to work on cleaner alternatives that can be brought to life faster, ensure appropriate energy supply for its citizens, and more cost-effectively than a new power plant.

source: kosid.org

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Energy Community Secretariat requested from the Federal Ministry of Environment and Tourism to revise the permit and harmonize it in accordance with the prescribed values that restrict the permitted air pollution.

Ministry was also pointed to the fact that, when it comes to energy projects it is necessary to follow and apply the provisions laid down in environmental legislation, said the “Ekotim”.
The Association appealed last year to the Energy Community Secretariat against Bosnia and Herzegovina due to uncertainties regarding permissible emission limit values of pollutants that are listed in the environmental permit for TPP Banovici.

Otherwise, the construction of 350 MW thermal power plant in Banovici is planned and its construction is estimated at EUR 500 million.

The Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina has given the consent to Chinese Dongfang Electric, as a strategic partner for the construction of the thermal power plant, but has not signed loan contract yet with the Chinese bank, in which the Government of FBiH should provide guarantee for the implementation of this project.

There were earlier announcements that the power plant should be put into operation by the end of 2019, but considering the present circumstances it is questionable whether this deadline will be met.

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“The Dirty Profits Report has again confirmed that self-regulation of banks and companies, behind closed doors, is insufficient to ensure the observance of human rights, environmental, and anti-corruption standards,” says Thomas Küchenmeister, Managing Director of Facing Finance

The Dirty Profits 5 report includes research and important case study contributions by respected international organisations, including for example, Transparency International, Greenpeace, and Human Rights Watch. A total of 12 authors from eight countries have documented dozens of cases of human rights violations, corruption, exploitation, and environmental destruction. The cases cover 14 globally operating companies, including Bayer, VW, BP and Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. and five major European banks.. The finance provided by the five major banks, in relation to these 14 companies, is detailed in the report. The five banks held shares and bonds of the investigated companies to the value of €5.8 billion.

The selected European banks provided the 14 companies with capital of €46.9 billion between January 2013 and August 2016 through the underwriting of shares and bonds and provision of loans. These loans are often given as ‘general corporate purpose’, without placing sustainability requirements on the company’s operations. This report shows that major banks provided substantial loans to VW after revelations regarding the emissions scandal.

According to Jan Schulz from Facing Finance, “It is unacceptable that after widely recognised concerns related to the VW emissions scandal were made public, many of the banks in the Dirty Profits have provided VW with loans, apparently without restrictions.” Similarly Freeport-McMoran, Norilsk Nickel and SNC-Lavalin have been provided with loans despite long-term environmental and corruption issues.

“64 percent of the investigated companies have one or more documented cases involving environmental or climate destruction,” claims Julia Dubslaff, leader of the Facing Finance project Faire Rente. For 42 percent of the companies researched, corruption cases have been documented in their operations and, for 57 percent of companies, human rights violations. The fact that eight of the 14 companies are
signatories to the UN Global Compact, which specifies minimum environmental and social standards, seemingly does not prevent these occurrences.

“With this report we are pressing for better regulation surrounding sustainability and transparency of the financial industry. Particularly at a time where a concerning amount of deregulation is occurring in the US, including possible deregulation of the financial industry,” says Lesley Burdock, editor of Dirty Profits 5.

The focus of the report is on a wide range of companies, including the VW diesel scandal and its worldwide, unprecedented, and organised deception of customers and regulators at the expense of people and the environment. In addition, four global mining companies are investigated, including Freeport-McMoRan whose Grasberg mine dumps 150,000 tonnes of tailings waste into the surrounding area every day, using what is known as riverine tailings disposal, leading to large scale ecosystem destruction. Approximately 23 institutional investors have excluded Freeport based on their environmental concerns. However all five of the major banks investigated have directly funded Freeport-McMoRan.

source: us6.campagin.archive2.com

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Following rains and snowmelt, Jablanica lake has now started to reappear, but the ecological damage might take years to repair, say environmental groups and local fishers.

Water levels in the lake are usually regulated to keep enough water to generate hydroelectricity and to avoid floods in the city of Mostar, which lies downstream. So it came as a surprise to local people, especially fishers, to see the lake completely drained last week, and with it all its life gone, too.
Normally, the lake is 30 kilometres long, around a kilometre wide with a depth of about 70 metres. Water levels had dramatically dropped twice before, during droughts in 2005 and 2012, but never by this much.

The discharge was carried out largely last month by power firm Elektroprivreda BiH, which says it was needed to maintain electricity production during a dry and especially cold period when energy demand was above average.

The lake was home to some ten fish species, including the endangered Adriatic trout and vulnerable Adriatic. It is also part of the Neretva river system, a biodiversity hotspot with many endemic species.
It is clear that the lake’s disappearance has diminished the local wildlife habitat, says Alen Soldo at the University of Split in Croatia. Aquatic species that can’t relocate would have died, while the rest would have had to migrate.

But a huge influx of fish into waterways already occupied by other fish would also cause long-term damage to animal numbers and biodiversity in those surrounding areas, he adds.

Fully draining the lake has completely degraded its ecosystem, agrees Senka Barudanović, a biologist at the University of Sarajevo in Bosnia.

But Samir Đug, from the University of Sarajevo, who visited the site to evaluate the damage, says it’s not yet clear what damage has been caused to wildlife.

And there might be a silver lining, he adds. Đug says the fishers should take advantage of this situation to clean the lake by removing now-exposed waste before all the water comes back.

The whole episode points to a bigger problem in the region: a lack of integrated management of water resources, says Petra Remeta, the freshwater programme manager of environmental campaigners WWF Adria.

Anes Podić from environmental NGO Eko Akcija agrees. There has been no monitoring of how changes in lake water levels affect wildlife, he says. Elektroprivreda BiH is ignoring the consequences for plants and animals, he adds.

Elektroprivreda BiH said in a press release that the discharge didn’t cause an ecological disaster, and added that water is already returning, as it did in 2012, when low levels also didn’t hurt fish stocks.

source: thenewscientist.com

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