The district court in Vlora, Albania last week released three members of the Civic Alliance for the Protection of Vlora Bay who were arrested and detained for two weeks after protesting against the construction of a hydrocarbons terminal in Vlora. The terminal, regarded by the protestors as bringing few benefits to the local economy in exchange for high environmental risks, is being built by the Italian investor La Petrolifera Italo Rumena. The project is currently seeking a EUR 15 million credit from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

The Civic Alliance for the Protection of the Vlora Bay, a local Albanian initiative group, continued on Sunday to press for  a referendum on an oil deposit and a thermo-power plant being constructed north of the town of Vlora on Albania's Adriatic coast. The group's latest rally on Sunday picked up from the major  protest on January 18 this year  when representatives from the World Bank Inspection Panel visited Vlora to investigate allegations regarding the harmful impacts of the thermo-power plant the World Bank is financing together with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the European Investment Bank.

Eighteen non-governmental organisations from across South East Europe (SEE) have today joined forces to demand the withdrawal of political support for a rash of environmentally and economically destructive power plants planned for the region. In a letter to key decision-makers, the groups lay out their case against a December 2007 decision by SEE energy ministers that prioritises 19 major electricity generation projects. With an overall price tag of at least EUR 8.3 billion, none of these projects involve renewable energy and several are already subject to strong civil society opposition.

Members of three Croatian environmental groups held an action today in front of the Ministry of Environment to demand that it  urgently deals with 250 tonnes of toxic ash left over from Zagreb’s closed PUTO hazardous waste incinerator that closed in 2002. The groups - Green Action, Resnik Environmental Protection Association and SOS Gradec District - also demand that plans to build a new municipal waste incinerator in the city are halted, considering Croatia’s inability to adequately deal with toxic waste.

The new incinerator, which may be financed by the European Investment Bank, is planned to be 38.5 times larger than PUTO (385 000 tonnes per year), and to produce up to 100 000 tonnes of toxic ashes annually. However there is nowhere in Croatia to dispose of this ash, and the project’s development has been fraught with irregularities. Read more.