Energy, Estonia, Good for Business, Oil

OSO Factory notified the Environmental Board of its plans in the early spring of 2018, applying for both an air pollution permit and waste permit for the planned factory. The Environmental Board started handling the air pollution permit application and forwarded this to the local governments for the expression of an opinion, while the developer was asked for additional information regarding the waste permit, the newspaper said.

The plan is to start producing shale oil on the Killustiku property located in the Kose village of the rural municipality of Johvi as well as on a property located in the Ahtme city district of Kohtla-Jarve. The raw material for shale oil production will be acquired on location -- produced by OU Dream Hills Corporation from oil shale siftings left over during the activity of OU Ahtme Killustik, it appears from a preliminary environmental impact assessment drawn up at the request of the developer.

According to a representative of the local government, there is still a lot in the plan that is unclear. "It seems that the developer itself does not really know exactly what and how they want to start doing. They do not know the technology yet, do not know where the cooling water will be taken from, the combined impact of air pollution has not been taken into consideration at all, they were even unable to say where exactly the factory will be located," Kersti Juuse, environmental specialist at the Kohtla-Jarve city government, said.