Court amends Sofia city hall air pollution orders
Sofia City Court has ruled to amend its earlier decision, handed down in July, detailing the requirements on Sofia city hall regarding its efforts to improve the air quality in the Bulgarian capital city.
The new orders mandate direct access to information on air quality in the previous month, to be made public both on the city hall website and its Facebook page, how often are streets washed in the city over the previous two months, as well as to make public its plans to plant new trees in 2020.
The court’s decision comes after Sofia city hall failed to carry out some of the court’s orders from the July ruling, which the authorities attempted to explain by invoking mitigating circumstances, Bulgarian media reported.
One of the measures from the earlier ruling that was dropped in the new decision was for the city hall to make public air quality measurements at public transportation stops. The city hall argued that it was unable to do so for technical reasons.
The latest court decision, like the earlier one, is not the final ruling in the class-action air pollution lawsuit filed by a group of non-governmental organisations and individuals three years ago. The next sitting in the case has been scheduled for February 2020.
(Sofia has been repeatedly criticsed for its air quality, especially in winter, when particulate matter concentration spikes due to the extensive use of solid fuel heating. Photo: dewfall/flickr.com)
