The EC Will Sue Bulgaria for the Dirty Air around Galabovo

Today, the European Commission (EC) has decided to file a lawsuit against Bulgaria for exceeding the sulfur dioxide standards in the Galabovo region. The problem with high levels of sulfur dioxide in Bulgaria has existed for a long time, mainly in connection with the use of coal with high sulfur content from some thermal power plants.

Since 2007, Bulgaria, as a member state of the EU, has been obliged to meet and comply with its air quality norms. Due to the noncompliance with the requirements for sulfur dioxide levels in 2009, the EC started a punitive procedure against our country, at which time the problem areas were three - Pernik, Galabovo and Dimitrovgrad.

As a result of the measures undertaken by the state and by the owners of large combustion plants (LCPs), in recent years there has been a significant reduction in total emissions of harmful substances and, in particular, of sulfur dioxide from 715 358 to 48 567 tonnes compared to 2007. Galabovo is the only municipality in which there are still problems with meeting the European requirements for sulfur oxide content in the atmospheric air.

The main reason for the problems with the achievement of the sulfur dioxide standards in the town of Galabovo is the historically legalized concentration of four LCPs located on a small area in the Maritsa East Coal Basin. This, in addition to generating relatively large amounts of sulfur dioxide, makes it difficult both to determine the specific cause of each individual episode of pollution and the extent to which each plant affects air quality in Galabovo.

It should be emphasized that the Maritza East basins, according to the data from their automatic measurement systems, comply with the requirements of the European legislation and the norms...