Massacre Continues for the Thermal Power Plant Planned in Amasra!

Türkiye Electricity Transmission Inc. Headquarters of Hema Industry Inc. in Amasra. A 54-kilometer energy transmission line will be built in order to include the electricity to be produced at the thermal power plant planned to be established by Turkey in Turkey's interconnected (grid) system by using the switchyard of Zonguldak Eren Thermal Power Plant (ZETES) in Çatalağzı. 36.5 kilometers of the 'Zetes-Amasra TES (HEMA) Energy Transmission Line', which covers the Kilimli and Çaycuma districts of Zonguldak, and the Bartın Center and Amasra districts, will pass through the forest.

43 thousand trees will be cut down

In the Environmental Impact Assessment report prepared for the 380 kilowatt line, a 50-meter corridor will be opened along the 36.5-kilometer line that will pass through the forest. In the report, it was stated that a total of 43 thousand trees of black pine, red pine, oak, hornbeam, yellow pine, chestnut, linden, maritime pine, cedar, beech, willow and locust species in this region are foreseen to be cut down.

TREES ARE BEING CUT, THE VILLAGES ARE REACTIVE

Within the scope of the project, which is planned to meet the energy needs of the industrial facilities in Bartın and Zonguldak continuously and uninterruptedly and to have a positive impact on the economy of the region and the country, tree cutting has been going on for 2 months in the Saraylı Village of Amasra. Villagers reacted to the situation by saying that hundreds of trees have been cut down so far. Ali Özkanca, one of the residents of the village, said:

“They cut down all the trees here in order to build a thermal power plant. If we try to cut down trees from the forest, the state will immediately hit us. All the big big trees were cut down. Every day, these trees are loaded on trucks and taken to forest management warehouses. There is an official massacre going on here.”
Bartın Forestry Operations Directorate officials said that they have so far done 2 thousand cubic meters of stamping on a 9 kilometer line in their area of responsibility within the scope of the project, and about a thousand cubic meters of this has been cut. Officials stated that a thousand cubic meters means approximately 1,500 trees. Zonguldak Regional Director of Forestry Ahmet Sırrı Beşel did not make a statement stating that the project belongs to the general directorate.

'183 hectares of forest area will be destroyed'

Bartın University Faculty of Forestry Lecturer Prof.Dr. Erdoğan Atmış said that a 50-meter-long forest area will be cleared along the 36.5-kilometer line and a total of 183 thousand hectares of forest area will be destroyed. Reminding that this section was made within the scope of Article 17 of the Forestry Law, which allows many facilities such as electricity transmission lines and solid waste facilities to be built in the forest area on the grounds that they would be in the public interest, Atmış said, “We object to this. You can pass this line elsewhere. But you can't bring back the same forest again. In other words, you will also destroy the forest, you will harm the wildlife and social life there. We state this on every platform,” he said.
'TREES ARE CUT FROM THE POWER PLANT WITH AN EIA REPORT NOT APPROVED'

Reminding that the thermal power plant planned in Amasra caused great reactions in the region and that the public opposed the thermal power plant, Atmış said:

“The EIA applications for the thermal power plant did not pass thanks to the great reactions. It was canceled 5-6 times. In other words, thousands of trees are cut down for the thermal power plant, which has not yet been authorized. So many trees were cut down in Soma, but the thermal power plant there had permission. Here, cutting is done for the thermal power plant, which has not yet been authorized.”

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