The environmental agreement for Neptun Deep must be rejected, because, by issuing it, the Romanian authorities validate a toxic project that endangers the Black Sea, Greenpeace Romania activists argue, in a press release sent to on Wednesday.

„On June 14, the Constanta Environmental Protection Agency (APM) issued the final decision on issuing the environmental agreement for the Neptun Deep project. With this measure, the environmental authorities in Romania continue to ignore the strong arguments against the project. The reaction of public opinion did not take long to appear: in just a few days, more than 11,000 citizens sent messages to the Minister of Environment, Mircea Fechet, and APM Constanta requesting that Neptun Deep not receive the environmental agreement. The environmental authorities concerned had no reaction. The Ministry of Environment and APM Constanta are minimizing the impact that this project will have and continue to ignore the clear arguments brought by Greenpeace and supported by citizens,” the organization notes.

The press release mentions that there were no real public consultations for the Neptun Deep project, but only „a single consultation in Tuzla, under the „patronage” of OMV Petrom, and the cross-border consultations were held in a small town in Bulgaria”.

Also, the activists point to the fact that a quantity of five million cubic meters of waste water, whose chemical composition is not disclosed to the public, will be discharged into the Black Sea during gas exploitation.

„The Coastal Dobrogea Water Basin Administration (ABA D-L) and the National Marine Development Research Institute „Grigore Antipa” refused to make available to those interested the documents showing the degree of toxicity of the waters discharged into the marine environment by OMV Petrom. The impact of the Neptun Deep project on the biodiversity of the Black Sea is minimized, based on erroneous assessments that ignore essential principles such as precaution and cumulative impact. In fact, sea life is in real danger, being already affected, and the most vulnerable species are marine mammals, such as dolphins (…) The documents of the Neptun Deep project do not even take into account this major risk, although the consequences can be catastrophic for people and the environment,” the press release reads.

Greenpeace requests, along with thousands of citizens, that the environmental agreement for the Neptun Deep project be rejected, otherwise „by issuing this agreement, the Romanian authorities validate the toxic project that endangers the Black Sea”.

Greenpeace Romania sued the companies OMV Petrom and Romgaz, the City Hall and the Tuzla Local Council, the Dobrogea Litoral Water Basin Administration and the „Grigore Antipa” National Marine Research and Development Institute for irregularities in the approval processes and lack of transparency in relation to crucial data regarding the toxic substances that will be discharged into the Black Sea.

At the same time, the environmental organization launched a petition to protect the Black Sea and stop the Neptun Deep project.

In a recent interview with AGERPRES, the general director of OMV Petrom, Christina Verchere, said that „we are on schedule to deliver the first quantities of natural gas in 2027, within the limits of the initially announced budget of up to four billion euros”, and the first drilling under the Neptun Deep project would start in 2025.

She emphasized that the impact on the environment, as indicated by the conclusions of the Environmental Impact Assessment and the corresponding assessment reports, shows that the Neptun Deep project does not induce a significant impact on environmental factors and on the socio-economic environment.

AGERPRES