​Greenpeace is suing the authorities and the OMV Petrom and Romgaz companies for “serious violations” in the process of approving the PMU, dedicated to the gas development project in the perimeter of the Neptune Deep, the environmental organization said in a statement.

Greenpeace claims that the Konstanz Environmental Protection Agency issued an environmental notice in violation of the law.

“The approval of the project’s infrastructure on the Black Sea coast was issued without conducting important studies to properly assess the associated risks. APM Constanța granted the environmental approval without an appropriate environmental impact assessment study, without studies of the impact on public health, water bodies, climate change and without a transboundary impact assessment, as required by national, union and international regulations.” activists say.

They say the Neptun Deep project poses a number of notable risks, from threats to vulnerable species in the Black Sea to intensifying the effects of climate change. If authorities fail to properly assess the impacts of such a project, biodiversity and ecosystems will be irreversibly damaged and extreme weather events will increase.

Greenpeace lawyers argue that the environmental message is illegal

“The authorities must be held accountable for irresponsibly approving projects that have a devastating impact on people and the environment. The same government must protect the environment and the interests of citizens. Instead, conclusions are issued carelessly, in the interests of companies, without assessing the impact on public health and nature.

We will make every effort to ensure that harmful projects like Neptun Deep do not affect people’s health or destroy valuable marine ecosystems,” said Alin Tenase, Greenpeace Romania campaign coordinator.

“In our opinion, the cross-border procedure had to be completed at an early stage of planning or in conditions where this procedure was not completed at all from a triple point of view: the size of the project, the impact on the Black Sea and climate change, the environmental conclusion is illegal,” the lawyers said. Revnic Cristian and Associates, the law firm representing Greenpeace in court.