EcoLur
Upon Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan’s assignment, a working group is being formed adjunct to RA Nature Protection and Soil Inspection Body, which aims to detect the problems in the mining sector, to examine relevant documents and to issue professional opinions on these problems. This group will be headed by Arthur Grigoryan, Head of RA Nature Protection and Soil Inspection Body.
At the press conference held on 11 July, Arthur Grigoryan informed, “The government wants to know what the reality is in the mining sector. This question has arisen as so far environmental impact assessment system has worked with serious drawbacks. It would be wrong to rely on these official data – impact expert assessments.”
The first task of the working group is Amulsar gold mining project, where inspections have already been launched. Arthur Grigoryan outlined that the working group won’t repeat inspections, but will conduct a fact-finding mission. “We will submit substantiated and argument-based conclusions to the government, for this reason many stakeholders are involved who will support in this fact-finding mission. We will specifically examine the impact of the project on Jermuk resort and water resources.”
Arthur Grigoryan made a reference to Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan’s statement made during his visit to Jermuk, “We shall have answers to two questions: whether there is impact on Jermuk Town and whether there is impact on water resources, these are the main issues,” Arthur Grigoryan said.
President of “EcoLur” Informational NGO proposed to involve the representatives of Lori Territorial Division of Inspection Body in the public monitoring to be held in mining residential areas in Shnogh, Teghout and Akhtala.
“Arnika” International Organization, which is a well-known European expert organization in the sector of chemical safety, is implementing “Involvement of Civil Society in Decision-Making Process in Mining Sector in Armenia”. In the frames of this project a group of experts will arrive in Armenia from July 18 to 23, which will deal with environmental pollution and will carry out sampling in Shnogh, Teghout, Akhtala and Alaverdi residential areas.
The involvement of Lori Territorial Division employees in this group is considered to be expedient, as the data to be obtained at the expense of additional financial and human resources can be used during the inspections for additional examination,” Inga Zarafyan said.
Under Arthur Grigoryan’s statements, the next object of inspections is Qajaran copper and molybdenum mine in Syunik Region.
July 12, 2018 at 18:17