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The construction of a hydroelectric power plant to be built on the Tagar Stream in the southeastern province of Dersim has started without an environmental impact assessment (EIA) report.
The increase in the capacity of the hydroelectric power station (HEPP) and the construction of the regulator as part of the "Çemişgezek Regulator and Hydroelectric Power Plant Capacity Increase Project" caused concerns about destruction to the region's ecosystem.
While environmentalists oppose the project, which threatens the entire Tağar Basin, lawyer Barış Yıldırım, a member of the Environment and Urban Law Commission of the Union of Turkish Bar Associations (TBB), has submitted a petition against the project to the Provincial Directorate of Environment and Urbanization and filed a criminal complaint with the Public Prosecutor's Office.
"With the project, the amount of water in the Tağar Stream will dramatically decrease and the survival of species such as otters will become impossible," lawyer Barış Yıldırım told bianet.
"Against the law"
Yıldırım continued, "This is a new HEPP project rather than a capacity increase. A regulator will be built right on the banks of the Tagar Stream. A water intake structure and a small lake will be created with the regulator. They will take water from there and transfer it to the transmission tunnel through the regulator. In an area of approximately a few 100 meters, close to a kilometer, only life water will remain in the stream bed. It is impossible for that life water to flow due to the permeable stream bed. It is not possible for otters or any sea creatures to live in the stream, nor is it possible for the water to sustain its life.
"According to the Environmental Impact Assessment Regulation, no tender, permit, incentive or construction work can be initiated for a project without an EIA positive decision. Here, construction work was started while the EIA process was ongoing and now it is about to be completed. This is in violation of Article 10 of the Environmental Law. This lawlessness must be stopped immediately."
The habitat of the protected otter
Yıldırım emphasised that Tağar Stream is of great importance not only for natural life but also for cultural heritage: "Tağar Stream is an extremely ecologically valuable region, home to species protected under the Bern Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and their Habitats. Nearly 500 mountain goats live in the area. The water resources remain clean. Rare species such as the spotted salamander have been spotted here.
"There are also historical structures such as the Tagar Bridge, traces of the Urartian period, rock caves and dervish cells. This project will almost completely destroy the aquatic life in the riverbed. We must fight to protect the area."
About the project
In 1961, the first small HEPP was established on the stream, but recently a new HEPP project has been put on the agenda in the same place.
In 2018, this project was taken to court and stopped due to the presence of protected sesamurs, and this decision set a precedent. Today, however, another company has begun construction of a new HEPP.
Er İdare Turizm İnş. Food Cleaning Services Purchasing Industry and Trade Inc. aims to increase the capacity of the HEPP by 18 times with this new project. The EIA process for the project was initiated on 4 June 2024 and an EIA meeting with public participation was held on 24 July. But before the process was completed, construction of the HEPP began on the edge of the historic Tagar Bridge, built in 1807, and is almost complete.
On 24 August, environmentalists left a coffin in the Tagar Stream with the words "Article 10 of the Environmental Law No. 2872" to protest against the plant.
(İY/TY)