Coal plant project in western Turkish coast threatens seals and sea turtles

A coal plant project planned in Turkey's southwestern Marmara coast is threatening the habitat of Mediterranean seals and loggerhead turtles, experts from a number of institutions have warned.

However, the constructor company Cengiz Holding has not only ignored the warnings, but prepared a counter expert report claiming that both species could "tolerate” the change in water temperatures that would result from the discharge of water used to cool down the facility.

The $2 billion dollar plant, set to be built near Karabiga in Çanakkale on the shores of the Marmara Sea’s southern coast, is raising controversy as concerns about both endangered species’ were ultimately ignored in the environmental impact assessment report (ÇED), which stating that there were “no protected area under the Berne Convention in the project field and its surroundings.”

Turkey is a party to the Berne Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife but rarely weighs environmental concerns to halt energy projects.

The Natural Parks Directory, which assessed the initial environmental report prepared by the Environment Ministry, rejected claims that there were no Mediterranean seals in the region, stressing that there are many seals living in an underwater cave near the area where the plant is planned. It also recommended that ministry officials “indicate the possibility that seals could be affected following a temperature change in the habitat.” Experts also specified that loggerhead turtles, also known as caretta caretta, were also inhabiting the coast, urging compliance with the Berne Convention.

The Sea and Coast Department of the Environment Ministry echoed the same concerns, recommending that comments made by experts being...