PROTEST to demolish the illegal hydropower plant on the Taia River

Dozens of representatives of several organisations from Romania, Switzerland, Germany and Sweden protested on Sunday, 1 June, in the Șureanu Mountains in the Taia River valley to save the river’s biodiversity, calling for the environmental permit for the Taia small hydropower plant (SHP) to be annulled and the landscape restored to its original condition in accordance with the final judgment of the Alba Court of Appeal. Participants from Agent Green, Bankwatch, Bruno Manser Fonds, Coruptia Ucide, EcoCivica, Hodaia, Mai Bine, Neuer Weg, Centura Verde, Peisaj Deschis, Protect the Forests, Robin Wood, Asociația Societate Organizată Sustenabil and Mihai Goțiu installed a 12-metre banner above the Taia SHP, addressed to the Romanian Government and the European Commission with the message:

“Let the Taia River flow freely!”

After nine years and two court cases, Agent Green and Bankwatch continue to fight to stop this project, which has an extremely harmful effect on nature and whose environmental permit hangs on a Bucharest court decision that disregards the one from Alba Iulia. A new environmental permit for the same works on the Taia was issued in 2015 following a flawed environmental impact assessment process and with the complicity of the regulatory authorities that should have ensured nature’s protection.

“Unfortunately, no victory for nature comes without a fight in Romania, because we face endemic corruption in a state that has divorced itself from nature. We have reached the embarrassing and dangerous situation in which a final judgment of a court of appeal is trampled on by a justice system that has slipped into the pocket of the political forces ordering destruction on the Jiu, at Răstolița and wherever they see a cash cow”, said Gabriel Păun, president of Agent Green.

In court to protect the environment – civil society’s fight against the Taia SHP

Civil society’s legal battle to stop the Taia SHP and protect natural areas has lasted nine years. In 2016, Bankwatch Romania obtained the annulment of the environmental permit for the construction of the SHP on the Taia River, and in 2018 the Alba Iulia Court of Appeal upheld this ruling as final, ordering restoration of the affected area. Yet in 2022, the Hunedoara Environmental Protection Agency ignored the court’s decision and, in defiance of the law, reauthorised the Taia SHP. Although Bankwatch Romania and Agent Green challenged the permit again, the Bucharest Tribunal’s decision did not favour nature, leading to the continued operation of the Taia SHP and fragmentation of the ecosystem. Moreover, this new court decision jeopardises the work of the NGOs involved by approving lawyers’ costs in precisely the amount requested by the project’s developers, approximately 180,000 lei. The organisations have appealed and await the judgment of the Bucharest Court of Appeal.

“For nine years we have fought in court to save the Taia River and its unique ecosystem, located in one of Romania’s most spectacular natural regions. Our priority has always been protecting the public interest, conserving the environment and promoting sustainable energy investments that bring real benefits without harming nature. Unfortunately, the small hydropower plant on the Taia does not respect these principles. We continue to ask the Romanian authorities to put environmental integrity and people’s well-being above financial gains,” added Ioana Ciută, president of Bankwatch Romania.

The Taia small hydropower plant and its effects on the environment

The Taia hydropower plant, which has never undergone an environmental impact assessment, has already destroyed a protected natural area and seriously affected the Taia River and its ecosystem, endangering the crayfish known as “racul de ponoare”, a priority species at European level. Biologist Călin Dejeu pointed out in 2019 that diverting the water through an intake pipeline led to the disappearance of the natural ecosystem, leaving a degraded habitat behind. Clearing the alder woodland and building an access road aggravated the situation, while the disappearance of a pool essential for the reproduction of the Transylvanian smooth newt endangered protected species in the Grădiștea Muncelului Cioclovina Natura 2000 site, including the bullhead, the “racul de ponoare” crayfish and the otter. This project has affected not only Hunedoara’s natural heritage but Romania’s as well.

Although small hydropower plants are promoted as a means of energy independence and lower costs, the reality is different. The Taia SHP, with a capacity of just 3.78 MW, contributes only 0.018% of Romania’s electricity production. This energy could be replaced by just two wind turbines.