Quarry near Bosnek can expand after residents lose final court appeal

Bulgaria's Supreme Administrative Court (VAS) has finally rejected a complaint by residents against the expansion of a quarry near the village of Bosnek in Pernik province. As BNT reported, the court also refused their lawyer's request to refer the case to the EU Court of Justice. The four complainants must pay the costs and the fee of the investor's lawyer, from the company INMAT, currently set at 5,500 euros. The expansion had been suspended until the cases were concluded.

The court in Pernik had earlier found the complaint unfounded. The hearing at the VAS was scheduled for December but was brought forward by three months at INMAT's request, and the judges wrote their decision within two weeks. The initiative committee plans a complaint to the EU and has sent urgent appeals to the State Agency for National Security (DANS) and the prime minister. Residents cite satellite radar studies that they say point to possible risks to the Studena dam and argue that the effects of blasting at the quarry have never been independently assessed. A hydrogeologist the residents themselves had requested, however, backed the expansion.