Transcarpathia is becoming a seismically dangerous region of Ukraine, an ecologist say

The local government has allocated land for the construction of at least 570 small hydropower plants that can increase seismic hazard of the region.

This was announced yesterday, at the press conference in Kyiv by the deputy head of the National Ecological Centre Oleksiy Vasylyuk, the reporter of the HolosUA informed.

According to him, for the construction of such a large number of small hydropower plants they need to lay around 4 thousand kilometers of pipes which will increase the seismic hazard of the region by 2 points.

According to the expert, it will be enough to make any tremors in Romania devastating for Ukrainian Transcarpathia.

In addition, A. Vasylyuk noted that such projects threaten the fauna of the region – for example, small hydropower plants would destroy 14 species of rare fish in Carpathian rivers.

Also, according to the ecologist, the plants will put an end to the tourism industry in the region, as 4 thousand km of pipes will make it an industrial zone.

As the deputy head of the Center reported, local environmentalists seek to cancel those projects, but now they are expecting 360 court hearings on these issues.