Ecology, Estonia, Investments, Legislation, Markets and Companies

The environmental organization said that the documents are unlawful as they err both against the conditions of the state's special plan and the lawfulness of the planned environmental impact assessment process.

"The plan in question is at present still at a preliminary stage, but mistakes have been detected in its implementation and not eliminating them would create a situation in which both the state, Est-For and all those persons concerned are contributing an extensive amount of time and financial assets in relation to the plan, but a lot of the work would have to be redone as the plan would be unlawful," the organization said.

The organization is questioning both the launch of the state special plan for the pulp mill as well as the current development of the environmental impact assessment process. The unavoidable prerequisite of the drawing up of the state's special plan is that there is national or international interest for the construction in question, but the fact that there is international interest for the construction of the pulp mill has not been mentioned in Est-For's statement or the letter of explanation of order number 141.

The organization said that therefore it must only be subject to national interest, but the object of national interest cannot be the creation of an additional 200 jobs or the possible tax revenue, as in that case the construction of the production facilities of essentially every larger than average companies would be linked with national special interest. The environmental activists said that therefore there is no actual lawful basis to the launch of the state's special plan.

The organization said that there are also shortcomings in the application filed by Est-For, as a number of claims have been made in the statement about the impact of the mill, but there are no reference to research or sources, which the claims are based on. The organization said that all the claims made by the company in said statement are unsubstantiated and cannot be the justification of an administrative act without references to sources.

The civic association in its previous correspondence with representatives of Est-For Invest Margus Kohava and Aadu Poll have repeatedly asked specific technological questions about the equipment planned to be installed in the mill in order to get an overview of the environmental impact of the industry on the Emajogi Rive and the rest of Estonian nature. Heads of the company have been laconic when it comes to the technology, stripping the rest of the interest groups of the society of the opportunity to speak along on the construction of the mill.