Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, in a Facebbok post today, offered his explanation as to why he decided to send the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) conducted by the Beirut-based Eldar company to the Ministry of Environment for additional review.

Pashinyan writes that during his August 19 national TV speech he said he was 99.9%, not 100%, sure that the Amulsar mine would not adversely impact the environment.

For context, before his live TV broadcast on August 19, Pashinyan presided over a meeting where officials presented their views on the Elard EIA findings.

Here’s a translation of what Pashinyan wrote today:

“About today's decision to prevent any misunderstandings.

At the end of today's discussion (as I reported earlier, Lydian's representative and representatives of all relevant ministries were present) I said that I was asking the question for the last time. Is there any data in the Elder assessment that suggests that the Amulsar project should undergo a new EIA?

I asked this because I said live on August 19th that my conviction on this issue was 99.9%, not 100%, based on the results of the morning consultation.

All present, including a representative of the Ministry of the Environment, gave a negative response at the August 19 meeting.

I was already going to close the consultation when a spokesman for the Ministry of the Environment said he still thought it was worth answering the question after more in-depth research.

After that I instructed the staff to send Elder's report to the Ministry of the Environment with a corresponding recommendation.”