43,000 trees set to be felled near Black Sea port for new coal plant

Turkey is bracing for more government-backed pillaging of the natural environment for fossil fuels and cement, with a new coal plant project in the western Black Sea province of Bartın expected to lead to the destruction of a huge 183,000-hectare forested area.

According to official documents provided by Turkey’s Electricity Transmission Corporation, some 43,000 trees will be cut down in an area close to the port town of Amasra, in order to build both the facility and the power distribution lines that will transmit electricity generated by the coal plant.

Locals have expressed outraged that the authorities have already started felling trees on a 36.5-kilometer line, although the legal process that will eventually allow the construction of the plant has yet to be concluded.

The plant has drawn huge reactions from locals and environmental activists alike, who said it would cause irreparable damage to the environment for Amasra, a picturesque coastal town that is aiming to enter UNESCO’s permanent cultural heritage list.

The process of the bid offer, the choice of land, and the legal battle against the environmental impact assessment report (ÇED) - which was approved despite experts’ warnings about the plant’s possible damage - had already triggered vast controversy and sparked local resistance. More than 40,000 signatures have been collected against the plant, while fishermen have also joined the fight, arguing that the pollution would likely effect their activity, which is a pillar of the local economy.

“The environmental impact assessment report has still not been finalized thanks to the huge popular reaction. It has been canceled five or six times. In other words, thousands of trees are being cut for a plant...