Prosecutor’s office requires environment minister to inspect TPP Bobov Dol

The Supreme Administrative Prosecutor's Office on March 31 instructed the Minister of Environment and Water to personally inspect and submit a report on the activity of Thermal Power Plant (TPP) Bobov Dol within 15 days.

Considering the great public importance of the problem related to environmental pollution from the activity of TPP Bobov Dol EAD and the possible adverse effects on the life and health of people living in the settlements in the immediate vicinity of the facilities, the Supreme Administrative Prosecutor's Office assigned the Minister of Environment and Water within 15 days to personally inspect the waste incineration plants at Bobov Dol TPP and submit a summary report, the prosecutor's office said on March 31.

The assigning of the inspection is also in view of the results of the inspection of the Bobov Dol TPP carried out on March 30 by the Regional Inspectorate of Environment and Water-Pernik, ordered by the District Prosecutor's Office - Dupnitsa in connection with the information on the resumption of burning of waste.

The Minister of Environment and Water should personally check and report:

- Have the required conditions for waste incineration at TPP Bobov Dol EAD been fulfilled and whether the installations of the latter are burning only and solely according to the issued complex permit;

- Has the equipment provided for in the complex permit equipment been installed (purification facilities - filters, automatic systems for carrying out own continuous measurements, etc.);

- Does the actual state of Bobov Dol EAD TPP meet all the conditions laid down in the complex permit.

***

The District Prosecutor's Office in the town of Dupnitsa on January 17 launched an investigation into Bobov Dol Thermal Power Plant for crimes against public health and the environment.

On February 13, the Prosecutor's Office ordered the Minister of Environment to immediately check whether there was illegal burning of waste in the Thermal Power Plants Bobov Dol, Brickel, Sliven and Pernik, which are linked to businessman Hristo Kovachki. Chief Prosecutor Ivan Geshev and Ministers Mladen Marinov (Minister of interior) and Emil Dimitrov (Minister of Environment) were in Bobov Dol and announced that the TPP would no longer burn waste there and pollute the air in the area.