Buhar Enerji has managed to get a court investigation underway that notes that excavation works of the refinery are continuing in the absence of a legal construction permit and proper health conditions for workers. They move so fast that some workers unfortunately lost their lives in this unregulated excavation works.

As designed now, the refinery and coal power plant would restrict access to a valuable geothermal energy resource. The geothermal reservoir is owned by the Turkish state and Buhar Enerji has been granted a 30-year operating license at least one year prior to that for the refinery. The EIA makes no reference to the geothermal reservoir and no stakeholder consultations have been held on this topic.

There are approximately 3,000 businesses in the Aliaga region, 100 of these are big polluters, representative for industrial sectors such as petro-chemistry, steel and iron production, fertilizer, cement and pulp factories, fuel storage etcetera. The local industry generates 25% of Turkey's dangerous waste, according to local environmental group Aliaga Environmental Platform.  However, none of the new facilities have conducted a cumulative assessment when preparing the EIA.

In 2010 Socar sued Buhar Enerji to have its 30-year geothermal power operating license canceled so it would not pose any obstructions for their refinery plans at the same location. Their oil refinery license was subsequently given 13 months after. They lost that case, just like a large number of other cases. However, none of these decisions have stopped the excavation works they are doing for their refinery. They are simply moving ahead in an attempt to reach a point of no return for the project.

In February 2014 the Turkish government passed a law to resolve the four-year-long legal dispute between Socar and Buhar Enerji  in Socar's favor. The legislation, called the Socar law by Turkish media, gives a panel of three government ministers the right to cancel geothermal licenses that clash with infrastructure or energy projects "in consideration of the public good and the needs of the economy."