On 18 April the Ministry of the Environment sent the draft version of the national development plan for the use of oil shale to the Ministries of Economic Affairs and Communication, Finance and Social Affairs for their endorsement and subsequent submission of the plan to the government for its approval. The plan has been compiled for the 2007-2015 period and sets out the production of electricity, oil shale oil and cement as the main use of the resource. The annual limit on mining of oil shale (up to 20 million tonnes) is included in the draft, with emphasis also being placed on the need to find ways to gradually reduce this volume. Mining and using such a quantity will should also make it possible to meet the conservation obligations Estonia has taken on. “The amount of mining is primarily being determined by the continual increase in energy consumption, as well as by the fact that before the plan had even been put together mining permits had already been issued for 23 million tonnes of oil shale per year,” explained Jaanus Tamkivi, Minister for the Environment. “But the plan clearly sets out the direction that we want to take, and that is to reduce oil shale mining and use to 15 tonnes per year, through such things as developing alternative energy, limiting exports of oil shale products and price formation.” The development plan will be applied according to its implementation plan, which is constantly being revised. The first implementation plan will be for the 2007-2010 period, and this will be submitted to the government by the Minister for the Environment within three months at the latest of the development plan being approved. The cost and sources of funding for the application of the development plan are to be included in the implementation plan among the measures for the first four years. Work on the development plan was led by the Ministry of the Environment, with representatives from the Ministries of Economic Affairs and Communication, Finance and Social Affairs, environmental organisations and Viru County local governments also involved in the process. The working group was headed up by Anto Raukas from the Estonian Academy of Sciences, with a number of other eminent local scientists sitting on its advisory committee. Round tables were held on matters pertaining to the development of the plan on a monthly basis, at which representatives of local governments from oil shale areas were able to present their own views and appraisals. The working versions of the oil shale development plan can be viewed on the Ministry of the Environment’s website at http://www.envir.ee/232764. The draft includes a strategic evaluation report on environmental impact which was compiled under the guidance of Valdur Lahtvee, MP and director of the Tallinn branch of the Stockholm Environment Institute. The deadline for submission of the development plan to the government is 1 May 2007. The Ministry of the Environment has instigated an amendment to the Earth’s Crust Act, one of the aims of which is to bring approval of the national development plan for the use of oil shale before the parliament. For further information please contact: Rein Raudsep, Director, Environmental Management and Technology Department, Ministry of the Environment, +372 626 2971 Agnes Jürgens, Adviser, Public Relations Department, Ministry of the Environment, +372 626 2811 |
