Environment Minister Stops 2 Wind Farm Projects in NE Bulgaria

Bulgaria's Minister of Environment and Water has revoked two environmental impact assessments (EIA) issued by a regional inspectorate in the Black Sea city of Varna for the construction of two large wind farms in Dobrudzha.

The decision issued by Nona Karadzhova was triggered by signals of the environmental organizations Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds (BSPB) and the Green Balkans, which warned about the dangers resulting from the positioning of the wind farm propellers on bird migration routes.

The stopped investment projects envisage the construction of 150 wind turbines by the General Toshevo company and 95 other wind turbines by the Smin company.

The facilities were to be built in one of the busiest sections of the Via Pontica migration flyway and were dangerously close to protected areas under Natura 2000, according to the environmentalists.

The land plot borders on the Durankulashko Ezero protected site, a natural landmark of European and global importance.

Representatives of environmental organizations insist that the Director of the Varna Regional Inspectorate for Environment Protection made the decision to approve the construction of the wind parks on the basis of misleadingly presented and falsely interpreted biological and ornithological data.

Experts from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT) have also opposed the wind park projects.