Kalyny village of Dubove community in Zakarpattia region hosted a public hearing on the project to build small hydropower plants on the Teresva river, which is planned to be carried out by Hydroresource-Teresva LLC. Representatives of the local community strongly opposed this construction.
The Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources published the video of the hearing on its YouTube channel.
The discussion lasted 3 hours. Dozens of Kalyny residents spent a third of the time expressing their opposition to small hydropower plants on their river.
According to activist Olena Mudra, representatives of local government withdrew themselves from protecting the rights of the community and solving the problem. None of the community leaders were officially present at the public hearings.
" In a village with a population of five thousand, more than two thousand signatures against the construction of the MHP were collected. And now people threw down money and hired a lawyer to protect their interests ", says the eco-activist.
Community representatives and their lawyer Natalia Gnes emphasize that the project being discussed actually lacks urban planning documentation. In 2023, the Dubiv village council started the process of developing new urban planning documentation and the procedure of public discussion of the SEA to these documents, but then, for unknown reasons, stopped them. Residents also did not receive information about the Detailed Territory Plan (DPT) from representatives of "Hydroresurs-Teresva".
Olena Mudra says that scientists from the Institute of Carpathian Ecology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine also warn against the construction of the planned MHPs in their EIA.
Eco-activists emphasize that the Teresva River is an object of the Emerald Network. Its section stretching from the village of Ust-Chorna to the village of Dubove is an ichthyological reserve of local importance, where up to ten species of red-listed fish come to spawn.
In October 2023, EcoPolitic reported that ecoactivists criticized the massive construction of hydroelectric power plant in Transcarpathia. At that time, 6 conclusions from the OVD were agreed for the construction of new dams on free-flowing sections of rivers for the construction of small hydropower plants. Activists noted at the time that this was not the first attempt at massive construction of hydroelectric power stations in Transcarpathia. However, previous projects were canceled due to public opposition.
