Estonian government plans sharp increase in environmental fees

TALLINN - Estonian government plans to raise environmental fees starting from April 2013, reports BBN referring to Postimees daily.

Environmental fees include a fee for mining oil shale and such construction materials as limestone, sand and clay, a fee for pumping water out of mines and quarries and a fee for extracting cooling water from water bodies.

Although the government had publicly promised that current fees will not go up by more than five percent in the spring 2013, it has now decided to increase them by 20 percent a year for three years.

If the fee raise becomes effective, the government expects to raise incomes by five million euros in 2013, by 12 million euros in 2014 and by 17 million euros in 2015.

Rein Voog, chairman of the Estonian association of mining enterprises, says that he heard about the draft regulation two hours before it went to the government session for discussion on September 25.