The District Court in Banja Luka has annulled the environmental permit issued by the Ministry of Spatial Planning, Construction, and Ecology of Republika Srpska for the company “Drvo-export” d.o.o. from Teslic, which began lignite coal extraction a year and a half ago in the village of Bistrica near Prijedor.

As reported by Capital.ba, the lawsuit was filed by the Center for Environment and about 30 residents of the village, who successfully proved that the environmental permit issued by the Ministry in January this year could not be lawful, as it was signed a full eight months after mining activities had commenced.

This issue was raised in the National Assembly of Republika Srpska by SDS delegate Maja Dragojevic Stojic, who questioned the relevant minister, Bojan Vipotnik.

“Minister, how is it possible that the Ministry allowed the project holder to extract coal without an environmental impact study? Secondly, how do you plan to restore everything to its original state?” Dragojevic Stojic asked.

Minister Vipotnik confirmed that the District Court had issued a ruling and stated that the Ministry would act in accordance with it.

“We have a legal deadline of 30 days to respond to the objections raised in the judgment. Within that legal timeframe, we will respond to the objections and act accordingly. It is possible that the Ministry issued the environmental permit because the law provides for that possibility. As for the question of how we will restore everything to its original state, I would respond with a counter-question—why should everything have to be restored to its original state?” the minister remarked, adding that the Ministry is not responsible for returning the land to its original condition.

In response to the minister’s comments, delegate Dragojevic Stojic questioned whether the citizens of Prijedor and Banja Luka are being used as test subjects by the authorities, highlighting the serious level of pollution in the area, including soil contamination, pollution of the Crljenica River, contaminated wastewater, the water consumed by the population, and the destruction of local infrastructure.