Violation of property rights due to exploration of oil deposits in Smilno

In early 2016 the mining company Alpine Oil and Gas started with exploratory drills with the aim to verify the presence of oil or natural gas in three villages in North-East Slovakia. Since the company did not communicate with the public, the citizens of affected municipalities asked through petition the Slovak Government and its authorities to prevent carrying out geological exploration works and to prevent the designation of the exploration area. In the process of determining the exploration area, the municipality is not a party to the administrative procedure, it is only a passive recipient of decisions of the Ministry of Environment of the Slovak Republic. The state allowed the miners to explore the territory under specified conditions - one of them was to reach an agreement with the landowners. However, this condition has been violated by the company. Marianna Varjanová is the owner of the land through which the miners decided to lead the road to the exploratory drilling. They marked the route through her land, brought the workers' sheds, heavy machinery and began to build the road without a permit. When she tried to block the way through her land by her car, it was two times forcibly towed and damaged. When she continued blocking the works, the police dragged her in handcuffs. The case ended up at the court, costing a lot of stress, time and money. Finally, the District Court Bardejov issued and the Regional Court Prešov confirmed an indicative measure that should prevent the company to continue the geological survey for suspicion that it acts against the law and "is not acting in good will to the owners." The company Alpine Oil and Gas, s.r.o. (AOG) získala was awarded the exploration permit in 2006, which ended on 1^st August 2016. The Minister of Environment of the SR Laszló Sólymos could have solved the problem by not renewing the license. There were known all doubts and serious signals about this company, which should have prevented the renewal of the license. Partner of AOG is also the JKX, the ownership structure of which leads to a company registered in the Cayman Islands and the Ukrainian oligarchs owning the company. They invested to JKX in order to profit on shale gas. To circumvent the court's decision, on 7^th of June 2016 the company resumed the exploration works under a new company Cesty Smilno, s.r.o., in which AOG has a majority share. AOG also asked the Ministry of Environment of the SR for the extension of the license. In November 2016 Mnister Sólymos received hundreds of letters requesting to conduct the assessment of the impact of drills on the environment through the Environemntal Impact Assessment (EIA) process, and to respect the public participation in the process. The Minister refused with the explanation that is not possible under the currently valid legislation. He requested a depth control. On 15.2.2017 the Ministry of Environment of the SR published a press release, confirming that with AOG "everything is fine". The results of the inspection confirmed that the geological exploration in Smilno showed no significant effect on the environment. The minister said: "The Ministry currently has no legal possibility to stop exploratory drilling in Smilno". However, the ongoing protests reached, what minister did not. The company in April 2017 announced the intention to stop the controversial approach in Smilno. It is willing to voluntarily perform EIA, recognizing its current practice as unacceptable and is willing to build up a professional relationship with community. This means that in a transparent process all those who are or will be affected by AOG activities will be able to express their concerns, fears and observations. AOG at the same time will make available the documents that will be required. It is the victory of civil society, because informed people can freely decide whether they will allow such an intervention near their homes. One question still remains: why the Minister did not reach what citizens have done and what is he paid for, and why these services had to be done by citizens at their own expenses.

Location

Slovakia, Prešov county, Medzilaborce district, Smilno

https://www.google.sk/maps/place/086+33+Smilno/@49.3823713,21.2131361,11z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x473c2a56a43ba8d1:0x400f7d1c6973cc0!8m2!3d49.3845901!4d21.3493972

Environmental impact

• Air pollution
• Water pollution
• Land degradation (e.g. drought, soil contamination, erosion and desertification)
• Depletion of natural resources (fossil and mineral, forest, water, etc)
• Waste, waste disposal, and toxicants
• Alteration of landscape aesthetics and built heritage

Ethical/ legal issues

• Life and personal security
• Liberty
• A clean and prosperous environment and a safe and pleasant habitat
• Equality before the law and protection by the law (including marginalized and discriminated groups because of colour, race, gender, disability, descent, economic status, age, etc.)
• Democratic participation to decision-making on community and national affairs

Information sources & materials

Contributor(s)

Štefan Szabó, Silvia Szabóová, SOSNA Association, Slovakia

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