Amasra Residents Protest Coal on Land, Sea

Local residents in Bartın's Amasra district formed a human chain yesterday for June 5, Environment Day against the construction of a coal based thermal power plant, while fishing boats protested at sea.  

The public is resisting against the coal fueled thermal plant that is planned to be built in Bartın’s Amasra district, home to Küre Mountains National Park and a castle which made the UNESCO Temporary World Heritage list.

Shopkeepers did not open their shops yesterday due to June 5, Environment Day, and fishermen joined in the protest honking in their boats against the plant that would end fishing in the region. 

Female and male, young and old, many people formed a human chain between the district and the region targeted for the plant at 7 pm, despite the rainfall. 

What will you leave your grandchildren?

"Our ancestors left us Amasra castle, what will you leave your grandchildren?" locals asked in the press release.

"The government itself is endeavoring to get Amasra from the UNESCO Temporary Heritage List into the permanent heritage list. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism is taking the lead in this endeavor. What a contradiction that the same ministry gives an affirmative ministry opinion for the ÇED [acronym for environmental impact assessment] process on thermal plants, stating there is nothing of historical or touristic value in the region. Your bequeathed you the Amasra Castle, what will you leave your grandchildren aside from a history and nature destroyed by a thermal plant?"

Project twice rejected 

Hattat Holding wants to build a 1320 Megawatt thermal plant in Gömü Village in West Karadeniz's green district Amasra.

The company has aimed to set up a thermal plant in the town for years, and even signed a royalty contract in 2005 to provide coal for the factory, but has yet to extract any coal.  

The site in Tarlaağzı and Gömü Village where the company applied to build a thermal plant in 2010 was found unsuitable in the ÇED process. Applying then for Delikliburun, two kilometers west, the company was rejected again in 2012.

Despite being rejected twice, the company applied again in 2013 for a plant in Gömü Village. The ÇED report is expected to come out after the related evaluation meeting on May 8, 2014. 

Home to Küre Mountains National Park, Amasra is a region where ecotourism will be developed according to Turkey’s 2023 Tourism Strategy. UNESCO included Amasra Castle left from the Genoese in its Temporary Heritage list on April 2014.

Hema Integrated Thermal Plant would comprise of approximately 33 hectares of thermal plant area, 200 hectares of limestone and crushing and sifting facilities, 150 hectares of ash and gypsum storage area, on top of, in total, 380 hectares of natural forestland.

"There is a danger of inversion"

Bartın University Forestry School Professor Erdoğan Atmış had stated that the most important reason to be against the thermal plant was inversion risk.

"Air cannot rise in Amasra due to the temperature difference between land and sea surfaces. The fog layer descends and stays suspended in the air if there is a mountain. If you emit carbon dioxide or sulfur at a place like this, it will mix into the atmosphere, come down and settle. This is a serious, lethal danger." (NV/PU/BM)

* Click here to read the article in Turkish.