The Presidency of the Civil and Commercial Chamber of the Judicial District of Santiago dismissed the amparo action filed by the environmental movement “Tiempo Verde” against the Dominican Hydroelectric Generation Company (Egehid) and the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources, in opposition to the Las Placetas Hydroelectric Development Project, in San José de las Matas, Santiago province.
The court, presided over by Judge Filoset Núñez Polanco, dismissed the amparo appeal on the grounds that: “Without there being an arbitrary or unlawful act that restricts and threatens a fundamental right, it is clear that the present amparo action is inadmissible.”
Judge Núñez Polanco assessed elements such as the fact that “the work is not yet in progress”, that “the studies and the environmental license exist” and that “no current or imminent serious damage to the environment has been caused.”
In his motivations, the amparo judge established that the supposed damage to the environment that the execution of the hydroelectric project would cause was not scientifically proven.
After learning of the sentence, the Dominican Hydroelectric Generation Company (EGEHID) reiterated, through a statement, its commitment to the protection of the environment and natural resources, “guaranteeing the sustainability of its projects, which will always be oriented to seek the good of the entire population through an integrality that covers scientific and social aspects”.
The ruling also states that the EGEHID has been diligent in making a public clarification in the printed editions of the newspapers Listín Diario, El Caribe and La Información, through which it states that the first stage of the Las Placetas Hydroelectric Project has not suffered no modification in terms of its design, economic offer, approved environmental license No. DEA 150/09, duly renewed in 2021.
In that same order, it makes it clear that what is under study is the possible expansion of the project, which would include a “Generation Circuit 2”, which, if feasible and viable, would require environmental impact studies to be carried out. and subsequent obtaining of environmental permits. Said clarification, pondered the judge, cleared up any threat of violation of fundamental rights on the environment. (Together, both circuits would produce 204 megawatts of clean energy.)
