Greenpeace is challenging in court the Zonal Urban Plan issued for the Neptun Deep project

February 3, Bucharest - Greenpeace is taking to court the authorities and companies (OMV Petrom and Romgaz) involved in the gas exploitation project in the Neptun Deep perimeter for serious irregularities in the approval process of the Zonal Urban Plan (PUZ) of the Tuzla commune, invoking the exception of illegality of the environmental approval.

Greenpeace claims that the Constanța Environmental Protection Agency (APM Constanța) issued the environmental approval in violation of the legal provisions. The approval for the project's infrastructure on the Black Sea coast was issued without carrying out crucial studies for the correct assessment of the risks involved. APM Constanța granted the environmental approval without an adequate environmental impact assessment study, without cross-border impact assessment, without studies on the impact on climate change, water bodies and on the health of the population, as required by national, union and international regulations.

The Neptun Deep project presents a number of notable risks, from threatening vulnerable species in the Black Sea to intensifying the effects of climate change. Without authorities to properly assess the consequences of such a project, biodiversity and ecosystems will be irreversibly damaged and extreme weather events will intensify.

"The authorities must be held accountable for the irresponsible way in which they approve projects with a destructive impact on people and the environment. The same authorities should protect the environment and the interests of citizens, instead they issue careless approvals, in the interest of companies, without evaluating the impact on the health of the population and nature. We will pursue all avenues to ensure that such harmful projects, such as Neptun Deep, will not affect people's health and destroy precious marine ecosystems," said Alin Tănase, campaign coordinator at Greenpeace Romania.

"In our opinion, it was necessary to go through the cross-border procedure from the early stage of planning, or in the conditions in which this procedure was not carried out at all from a triple perspective (the size of the project and the area of the draft plan, the effect on the Black Sea and underground waters and climate change, the environmental approval is illegal," said lawyers from Revnic Cristian si Asociații, the law firm representing Greenpeace in court.

In October 2023, Greenpeace organized a protest and launched a petition to protect the Black Sea and stop further exploitation.

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Link to the Romanian Courts Portal: LINK

For more info; Alin Tănase, Energy Campaigner, Greenpeace Romania, alin.tanase@greenpeace.org, +40724 210 014