Supreme Court rules environmental audit should have been requested for Chvaletice power plant

The Czech Supreme Court ruled at the end of June that the Pardubice regional government and the environment ministry had been at fault by not requesting an environmental impact assessment (EIA) for a reconstruction project on part of the Chvaletice brown coal power plant that took place years ago, Czech daily Hospodářské noviny reported on Monday.

The local authority and the ministry are said to have decided "behind closed doors" that the power plant did not need an environmental audit, thereby blocking the possibility of public appeals and objections. According to the court, such a decision should have been formally issued, made public and delivered by public order.