Bulgaria is the only country in the European Union currently facing legal action for air pollution caused by sulfur dioxide. The source of this pollution is coal-fired power plants, including Briqel EAD, linked to oligarch Hristo Kovachki.
In a Facebook post from last week, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Environment and Water Borislav Sandov recounts a story related to Briqel TPP in Galabovo that could serve as a script for a crime film. The occasion is a decision by the Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) dated December 23, 2021, which upheld a ruling from the Administrative Court in Sofia on August 20, 2020, ordering the Ministry of Environment (MOEW) to pay the company that owns the power plant nearly 17.5 million BGN in damages and just over 7 million BGN in interest. The basis for this ruling is that in 2012, the Ministry of Environment refused to provide Briqel, linked to businessman Hristo Kovachki, with free emission quotas for greenhouse gases.
The MOEW decided to settle with the company. According to a report from the Commercial Register regarding the current status of Briqel EAD as of January 19, the sole owner of the capital is BAKAR LIMITED—a legal entity from the United Kingdom. A letter to the MOEW indicates that
the receivables have been transferred to the limited liability company “Heat Energy” Ltd., but no contract has been provided for this transaction,
“likely because Briqel TPP is indebted to the state due to other rulings,” the minister writes in his post. He personally verified that the representative of “Heat Energy” resides in the office of the director of “Republika” TPP in the Industrial Zone of Pernik.
In response to a parliamentary question, Andrey Zhivkov, the Minister of Energy in the caretaker government, informed the representatives that the company “Heat Energy” supplies coal to “Republika” TPP, extracted from the Pernik coal basin, and owns a coal drying installation located on a 9,000 square meter plot owned by Toplofikatsiya – Pernik.
According to the Commercial Register, Dilyana Branimir Avdzhieva is listed as the manager and sole owner of “Heat Energy.” Her name also appears in several other companies, including “Dining Energy” Ltd., for which she is the manager, and whose capital of 2 BGN is owned by a legal entity from the United Kingdom—Clarkwell Ltd. During the process of obtaining an Integrated Permit for “Briqel” EAD, the company notified the Executive Environment Agency (EEA) that ownership rights over the sixth energy boiler of the plant were transferred through a sale to Dining Energy. The letter also states that
since “Briqel” is not the owner and does not meet the definition of its operator, it cannot exercise operational control over the facility.
The new owner and operator of one of the six boilers at the plant is based in the municipality of Galabovo, specifically at the Briqel site. We attempted to reach CEO Yanilin Pavlov by phone several times, but were unsuccessful. Thus, questions such as whether “Dining Energy” utilizes the only flue gas desulfurization unit at the plant or if their boiler operates without treating harmful emissions, among others related to the operations of one of the oldest and most depreciated thermal power plants in Bulgaria, remain unanswered. It is also unclear how a company with a capital of 2 BGN acquired 1/6 of the plant’s energy capacity.
Meanwhile, the hopes of many citizens in the Stara Zagora region, especially in Galabovo, that the state would limit electricity production at Briqel TPP—which has been polluting the atmospheric air continuously for decades, primarily with sulfur dioxide emissions—or even close the plant, have not materialized. Furthermore, an investigation by “Za istinata” (“For the Truth”) revealed that a preliminary agreement with secret clauses has been signed between the municipality of Galabovo and the energy company, which regulates the delivery and incineration of waste, including imports from Italy.
On September 3, 2019—about twenty days after the investigation was published—the Regional Inspectorate of Environment and Waters (RIEW) in Stara Zagora conducted an inspection and found that biomass and RDF were being burned at Briqel TPP in violation of its Integrated Permit. They issued a decree to suspend the operation of six boilers at the fuel installation. The next day, a press release appeared on the prosecutor’s website stating that the Chief Prosecutor had ordered the Minister of Environment and Water to conduct inspections at “Bobov Dol” TPP and “Briqel” TPP, as well as at both heating companies in Sliven and Pernik, which are owned by individuals connected to oligarch Hristo Kovachki. In response, people in these regions held mass protests.
However, it turned out to be nothing more than a smokescreen for the citizens and environmental organizations in Bulgaria.
The suspension of operations at Briqel TPP proved to be a farcical act by the Stara Zagora RIEW, as it coincided with scheduled maintenance at the plant. The management announced that it had no connection to the waste deliveries stored at the site, which had been leased to the company “Trash Universe” for two years. So far, there have been no results from the two pre-trial investigations initiated two years ago by the District and Regional Prosecutor’s Office in Stara Zagora, which were supposed to investigate the route of the waste and whether there was a corruption scheme involving beneficiaries from the environmental inspection and the Ministry of Environment and Water.
Two years later, when Borisov’s government had fallen and a caretaker cabinet appointed by President Rumen Radev was in power, on October 5, 2021, the Executive Environment Agency issued a new Integrated Permit for “Briqel” EAD. The operator of the plant received the right to continue operating without making improvements to its depreciated technical installation.
The Integrated Permit allows for the burning of not only coal from the Maritza basin but also biomass and waste oils. Meanwhile, the RIEW in Stara Zagora rejected the need for an environmental impact assessment of Briqel’s investment intention.
Their reasoning was that the main objectives are to improve the quality of the environment in the area and to reduce the costs of electricity production.
“Greenpeace” – Bulgaria and “For the Earth” appealed to the Ministry of Environment against the decision made by the executive director of the Executive Environment Agency, which issued the new Integrated Permit for “Briqel.” They subsequently filed a complaint under Chapter Eight of the Administrative Procedure Code to Minister Asen Lichev, highlighting the following facts:
– The Integrated Permit was issued a month and a half after the deadline specified in Directive 2010/75/EU, which in itself constitutes a violation of its provisions. By August 17, 2021, national authorities were required to ensure that the permit for “Briqel” EAD complied with the conclusions regarding the best available practices for large combustion installations in the European Union.
– The technical assessment and the text of the newly issued permit contain numerous indications that, due to the technical condition of the plant, the established limit of 320 mg/m³ for sulfur dioxide cannot be achieved at this stage. The operator asserts that the installation will be capable of meeting this standard only after the commissioning of a second flue gas desulfurization unit, with the planned operational date set for 2024-2025. Currently, the only operational flue gas desulfurization unit (FGD) at the plant reportedly cleans SO2 to levels of 563 mg/m³, meaning that the Integrated Permit has been issued in violation of provisions from the cited EU Directive and the Environmental Protection Act.
“Therefore, the only way to comply with the sulfur dioxide standard under the conditions of the 2021 Integrated Permit and before the second flue gas desulfurization unit is commissioned is for Briqel TPP to be required not to operate its facilities at full capacity. This is also supported in the Integrated Permit, point 3 of the rationale for not allowing a derogation for sulfur oxide levels,” states the association’s notification to the minister.
It also indicates that the municipality of Galabovo is the only location within the European Union where there is still systematic and continuous violation of standards for protecting human health with respect to sulfur dioxide, and that Briqel TPP significantly contributes to this pollution.
The notification urges the minister to impose a compulsory administrative measure on the energy company linked to Hristo Kovachki, ensuring compliance with the emission standards set in the best available techniques for large combustion installations in the EU.
Such a measure could include suspending or limiting the plant’s production activities to a capacity that would ensure compliance with the standard of 320 mg/m³ for sulfur dioxide.
The Ministry of Environment and Water (MOEW) initiated proceedings under the Administrative Procedure Code (APC) and issued a comprehensive, well-justified decision, in which Minister Lichev rejected the appeal of the two environmental organizations and upheld the decision of the executive director of the Executive Environment Agency for issuing the Integrated Permit for “Briqel” EAD. This decision has been appealed to the Administrative Court in Stara Zagora, which will hold its first hearing on the case in February.
However, this is not the first time the association has challenged decisions made by the executive branch. In 2018, a case was opened in the Stara Zagora Administrative Court against Decision No. SZ – 61 – PR/2018 dated July 16, 2018, issued by the director of RIEW, which denied the necessity for an environmental impact assessment (EIA) for the burning of biomass, RDF, and other non-hazardous waste.
The Administrative Court ruled in favor of “Greenpeace”-Bulgaria and “For the Earth,” but the Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) overturned its decision and rejected the appeal. Lawyer Regina Stoilkova commented to BNR that the two environmental organizations have significant reservations regarding the court’s decision: “I would like to emphasize that this is the final court instance, and it is extremely concerning that, in this particular case, the Supreme Judges refused to comment on and apply the practice of the Court of the EU, which is mandatory, and had it been applied, the outcome of the case would have been different.”
Another concerning issue is that the Supreme Judges fully accepted the arguments of only one side, namely the claims of Briqel TPP, which were not substantiated during the proceedings. Thus, in practice, instead of rejecting the lawlessness, the Supreme Judges give a “green light” for the daily violation of the law at the expense of citizens’ health.
The two non-governmental organizations lack the capacity to monitor and verify whether the environmental inspection in Stara Zagora is imposing any sanctions on Briqel TPP following repeated instances of excess sulfur dioxide levels in the atmosphere, and whether any revenue from imposed fines is reaching the treasury after appealing the administrative acts in court, commented Meglena Antonova, campaign leader at “Greenpeace” – Bulgaria. She is adamant that the MOEW is not fulfilling its functions and is attempting to rectify the mistakes of the Ministry of Energy, which, in turn, lacks a mandate from the ruling party to shut down coal-fired power plants that do not comply with environmental legislation. She pointed out that the conclusions of the Directive on Best Available Techniques for large combustion installations should have been implemented back in 2021. This has not occurred in Bulgaria. Furthermore, Briqel EAD was allowed to operate without new investments, and the court granted them the right to immediate execution of the Integrated Permit, which now legally permits the burning of biomass at the plant—precisely the reason it was shut down several years earlier.
It is important to clarify that the immediate execution of the Integrated Permit was denied by the Executive Environment Agency, and this refusal was upheld by the Administrative Court in Stara Zagora. However, the Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) rejected this and allowed the immediate execution of the Integrated Permit dated December 15, 2021. Todor Todorov, the chair of the three-member judicial panel, expressed disagreement with the conclusions reached and pointed out that the facts presented by Briqel TPP are unproven. He also highlighted that the Executive Environment Agency confirmed that “the energy boilers are highly depreciated, which leads to frequent accidents, resulting in monthly shutdowns and restarts of the boilers without the use of flue gas desulfurization.” The boilers were installed between 1958 and 1962 and are in unsatisfactory technical condition. Moreover, the recorded instances of unorganized emissions could lead to high concentrations of sulfur dioxide in Galabovo.
Now, it is again up to the court first, and then to the new governing bodies who promised change. This change includes improved communication between journalists and the executive branch, as well as facilitating access to information crucial for the public, such as how many times the RIEW in Stara Zagora has checked whether “Briqel” EAD complies with the requirements of the Integrated Permit to operate simultaneously with no more than three out of the six boilers, with a total nominal input thermal power not exceeding 510 megawatts. Accordingly, it should also clarify the actions taken by the inspection in cases of identified violations.
Our legislation also requires change, as proposals put forth by the previous government restricted the appeal of environmental assessments of municipal projects of primary importance to one judicial instance.
Any alternative policy would imply that a circle of untouchable businessmen with strong lobbies in politics and the judiciary continues to exist in Bulgaria.
