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The environmental compensatory measures for the damages caused by building the Augustów bypass expressway stopped by the European Court of Justice

The European Court of Justice has complied with the application of the European Commission and considered that immediate cessation of afforestation was necessary for protection of environment, seriously endangered by the program of compensations proposed by Poland.

On April 18th, 2007, the Court of Justice of the European Communities, on application of the European Commission ordered immediate cessation of afforestation of the Augustow Primeval Forest. According to the European Commission, the afforestation may threaten local wildlife habitats and species of plants and animals.

On October 18th, 2006 the governor of the Podlachian voivodship issued a decision on environmental conditionings of agreement on construction of the Augustów bypass expressway through the Rospuda River Valley. The decision obliged the investor to pay the so-called environmental compensatory measures, a form of compensation for damages caused by intervention into the natural environment. However, the program of compensations proposed by the nature protection offices of the Podlachian voivodship failed to meet the environmental standards.

Jerzy Polaczek, the head of the Ministry of Transport, has recently praised the program of compensations. The minister claimed that the large scale of the program was unique in Europe. The program included afforestation of 160 ha of the Sejny Lakeland, north from the Augustow Primeval Forest. One million new trees were to be planted. However, from the very beginning the program of compensatory measures for the damages has been questioned by environmental organizations. The environmentalists raised objections that the program, supposely protecting the species endangered by construction of the bypass expressway, would result in destruction of other habitats and species protected by the EU law. In November 2006 non-governmental organizations informed the Ministry of Environment about absurdity of the planned compensatory actions. Despite the criticism, the Ministry decided to support the ideas of regional authorities and claimed that the discussed area was covered only by crops of cereals, corn, potatoes or tobacco. In fact, the endangered areas include dry thermophilic meadows inhabited by the two almost extinct species of pasqueflower.

The State Board of Nature Protection [expert advisory organ affiliated to the Ministry of Environment] also took a notice of a harmful character of the proposed compensations. On March 2007 the Board stated that „some planned actions cause damages in natural environment because the areas planned for afforestation include valuable natural habitats and sites of protected species”.

The European Court of Justice has complied with the application of the European Commission and considered that immediate cessation of afforestation was necessary for protection of the environment, seriously endangered by the program of compensations proposed by Poland.

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