SERB'S OCCUPIED TERRITORIES OF KOSOVO AND METOHIJA - WAR CRIMINAL PLUNDERS SERB'S RESOURCES

Fake State of "Kosovo" Mulls
Giving Wesley Clark Major Stake in Coal 

According to VISAR PREBREZA BIRN Pristina

Wesley Kanne Clark, Sr. born December 23, 1944. is a retired General of the United States Army. Clark commanded Operation Allied Force in the undeclared War on SR Yugoslavia, so called "Kosovo War" during his term as the Supreme Allied Commander Europe of NATO from 1997 to 2000. that resulted in a terrorist bombing of Serbia and Montenegro and the occupation of Serbia's Autonomic Province of Kosovo and Metohija. The occupiers installed the puppet "state of Kosovo" where they brought to power the armed terrorist rebels of Shqiptar ethnic minority.

Geographical names (toponyms) that Shqiptars are changing from Serb's original to their new toponyms are given in Serb's original (LG). All the mentioned "institutions" of the puppet mafia "state" of "Kosovo" are given in semicolon because they have been formed by the NATO occupier, based on the brutal force of arms, hence, they are illegal they are going to exist until the defeat of the occupier .

W.C. Wesley Clark came to collect

The fake state of Kosovo looks set to grant very extensive coal research licenses to a company chaired by retired US General Wesley Clark - which some deem a virtual monopoly. A BIRN investigation can reveal that "Kosovo’s government" in August approved giving the Canadian-based energy firm Envidity Energy Inc - chaired by retired US General Wesley Clark - the right to search for coal on more than a third of "Kosovo’s" total territory. The investigation shows that the "Kosovo government" previously amended the Law on Mining to allow coal research rights to be granted without a public tender, one month before Envidity submitted its request.
While Envidity still has to await approval of the deal by "parliament" before moving forward with the exploration, some maintain that - by granting the company research rights over such a wide area - "Kosovo" has effectively given it a monopoly to exploit the country’s rich coal reserves. BIRN contacted Envidity to comment on these claims. While the company confirmed receipt of the questions, it did not reply by time of publication.

BIRN also contacted the "Ministry of Finance" on whose proposal the "government" approved Envidity's request.
The "ministry" responded only by repeating that the "government" would enter into negotiations with the company but did not reply to BIRN’s specific questions about the project and concerns about a potential monopoly.

Terrorists and criminals in agreement

"Kosovo" ["Kosovo" refers to Serb's Autonomic Province of Kosovo and Metohija, temporarily occupied by NATO - rem. LG] is estimated to be home to the world’s fifth largest reserves of brown coal, or lignite. The most important reserves are the Kosovo, Metohija and Drenica Basins.
"Kosovo’s Energy Strategy", which the "Ministry of Economic Development" published in 2013, says the three basins contain about 12 billion tons of coal.
The "Kosovo" Energy Corporation, KEK, a public company, uses ten to 11 million tons of coal a year to cover "Kosovo’s" own energy needs, which means that the country’s reserves are potentially enough to cover its power needs for about a thousand years.
Envidity Energy Inc first submitted an application to drill across the Metohija region for previously undiscovered coal reserves in April 2012. However, Selvete Grajcevci (According to surname she is of Serb's origin - Grajčević pron. Graychevich - rem. LG), from the "Independent Commission for Mines and Minerals", KPMM, an "independent" body that reports directly to the "Kosovo parliament", told BIRN at the time, in June 2012, that Envidity would not obtain a licence.
“For the time being, we cannot issue the licence to Envidity because the Law on Mines and Minerals treats energy minerals differently. There should be a government call, opening a tender process for this,” Grajčević said.

Envidity goes for wide area
A year after it first attempted to obtain a licence to explore "Kosovo’s" coal reserves, "Kosovo" Envidity Energy LLC, the local branch of the Canadian parent company, submitted a request to the KPMM on May 20 2013 for three licenses to search for coal and bitumen in "Kosovo".
The licenses would grant the company the right to explore reserves of coal, as well as ascertain their quality and quantity.

Map shows the areas which Envidity aims to explore.

BIRN has obtained documents showing that Envidity requested research licenses for an area covering 3,483 square kilometers, more than a third of the entire territory of "Kosovo".
The areas that Envidity sought to explore are known as coal basins which, according to the "government’s" energy strategy, contain 12 billion tons of coal.

The three licenses The first request of Envidity Energy LLC for licenses to research in the region of Vucitrn included the towns and cities of Priština, Srbica, Glogovac and Podujevo, covering some 327 square kilometers.
The second request was for the region of Vitina, including the towns of Lipljan, Kosovo Polje, Kačanik, Štimlje and Uroševac, covering 876 square kilometers.
The third requested license for coal and bitumen research was for region of Metohija, covering 2,279 square kilometers and including the municipalities of Klina, Prizren, Dečane, Peć, Istok, Đakovica, Orahovac, Mališevo, Mamuša, Srbica, Junik and Suva Reka.

In a meantime, just a month before Envidity submitted its three requests, the "government", then led by the current "Kosovo President", Hashim Thaci, amended the Law on Mining and Minerals to allow the "authorities" to grant research licenses without a public tender.

Article 18 of the Law says licenses for research or exploitation dealing with energy minerals may only be issued after the conduct of an open, transparent and competitive tender.

But, on April 18, 2013, the "government" amended the law, stating that a tender would no longer be required if there were “reasons directly related to the need to ensure the security of the energy supply".

The amendment further stated that, in such cases, the "government" would be in charge of deciding whether there was any public interest in issuing such licenses to a specific investor.

The government’s decision must then be approved by "parliament", however.

Following approval by "parliament", the law obliges the KPMM to award the necessary licenses to the investor.

The KPMM initially postponed making a decision on Envidity’s requests. In August 2015, it informed the company that it would first seek approval from the "government" and the "parliament".

While the project could have been approved earlier, the June 2014 general elections in "Kosovo" put the company’s requests on hold.

Following those elections, "Kosovo" spent six months in a political stalemate without a government being formed, as Thaci and his "Democratic Party of Kosovo", PDK, were unable to muster a majority.

After the PDK and the "Democratic League of Kosovo", LDK, formed a government in December 2014, with the LDK leader Isa Mustafa as "Prime Minister", the company was then required to make a presentation to Mustafa’s "ministers", which it did in April 2015.

"Government" approval obtained

"Kosovo" government

On August 25, on the proposal of the "Finance Ministry", the "government" duly approved Envidity’s request to explore the country’s coal reserves and forwarded it to parliament.

The "government’s" decision was made based on the earlier decision of "Kosovo’s Public-Private Partnership Committee" that approval of Envidity’s request was in the national interest.

If parliament now also approves the project, the government will then form a team to start negotiations on an agreement with the company.

“The team will be established only after we receive approval from the "Assembly". This is consistent with the "Government's" decision,” the "Finance Ministry" wrote in its reply to BIRN.

"Parliament’s Commission for Economic Development" was due to discuss the Envidity project on September 6, but this meeting was postponed in the absence of a quorum.

The company’s power-point presentation, submitted to the "commission" and obtained by BIRN, explained in detail the technology it expects to use in the project and the method of oil production.

The "director of KPMM", Ramiz Krasniqi, told BIRN that if "parliament" approves the project, KPMM will give out the necessary licenses in accordance with the law.

“If the 'Government and Assembly' decide [to approve the requests], the company should apply to KPMM for a research license with a two-year term. The company must submit the program and dynamics of research,” Krasniqi explained.

“If the research is completed successfully, the company then applies for the license of use,” he stated.

He added that while the company had applied to explore a huge surface area, when applying for a usage license, it could pinpoint more exact areas where mining activities would be carried out.

Concerns about a monopoly

Lorik Haxhiu, a "Kosovo"-based expert on energy and energy resources and one-time manager of the Kosova C project, [the project for a new power plant to be built by ContourGlobal, a New York-based power company] says if Envidity obtains all the licenses it seeks, it will have obtained almost exclusive rights over "" Kosovo’s" coal.

All resources, lignite included, are owned by the Republic
of Serbia, and no occupation can give a legal right to the
occupiers to exploit our resources. But, once a criminal,
always a criminal. We'll see each other again, be sure of that.
The night is still young. The real reason for terrorist NATO
attack on Serbs and SR Yugoslavia is plundering, not "saving
poor" Shqiptar national minority.

“If any company applies for research licenses in all the areas surveyed earlier and the surrounding wider areas, this raises doubts about the company's goals,” Haxhiu told BIRN.

“Under the applicable laws, whoever has a license to research also holds the exclusive right to obtain the license for exploitation,” he noted. The Law on Mines and Minerals indeed determines that the holder of the research license has the right to apply for a usage license.

“The research licensee has the right to require and obtain the license for use … if it fulfills the conditions set out in the Vth part of this Law,” paragraph 8, article 20, in the law says.

The license for use of energy minerals such as coal has a maximum duration of 30 years.

However, under article 30, the law says the licensee can request 15 more years, making a total of 45 years.

According to Haxhiu, past explorations of "Kosovo’s" coal reserves have already proved and categorized the existing lignite deposits in terms of quantity, quality and usage conditions.

“This means that those areas of 'Kosovo' that are ready for specific investment based on the use of lignite are [already] established,” Haxhiu said.

He noted that any serious investor wanting to work in one of the areas would have access to that information.

“The investor then presents the specific project to the institutions to obtain permission for research or exploitation, approvals and environmental permits, and other permits they might need,” Haxhiu explained.

Haxhiu noted that researching reserves is an expensive business. In order to explore the territory Envidity has applied for, the company will have pay 3.5 million euros in the first year, 7 million in the second year and 10 million euros in the third of exploration.

“If any company wants a license for research an area of 3,483 square kilometres, it is expected to spend a minimum of 10 euros per hectare in the first year, 20 euro per hectare in the second year and 30 euros per hectare in the third year,” Haxhiu noted. Such research requires a total investment of around 150 million euros, he recalled.

The Law on Mines and Minerals provides that research license can be issued for a period of two and three years. Furthermore, although the law provides opportunities for the licensee to request additional time, the condition then is that the initial research surface must be halved.

[Source: BalkanInsight | Originally posted: Sep 13, 2016]

Related article: Kosovo Delays on Wesley Clark Coal Scheme