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CEE countries plan prevention of mad cow disease A man stands surrounded by cattle killed in Munich, Germany, in a preventive slaughter designed to check the spread of bovine spongeoform encephalitis (BSE). The member countries of the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA) have adopted a common policy designed to keep BSE out of their part of the world, according to a Feb. 16 report from Radio Prague. Agriculture ministers of Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia met in Prague to discuss a joint approach to containing BSE and renewing consumer confidence in beef, the report said. BSE is apparently a greater threat in Western countries, because they use intensive farming practices that are bad for the environment.
NUCLEAR
Environmental non-governmental organisations in Bulgaria criticised the Ministry of Environment and Waters for moving too quickly with public hearings about the environmental impact assessment (EIA) report of Bulgaria’s Kozloduy nuclear power plant, but the ministry rejected the accusations, saying they had acted properly. Activists from the Centre of Environmental Information Education, Za Zemiata and Friends of the Earth Europe circulated a press release complaining that the nuclear plant hearings, which were to end on Feb. 15, were inadequate, because the government had not fulfiled its legal obligations to conduct an in-depth impact assessment report at the plant every five years. The non-governmental organisations demanded that the ministry allow three months of extra time for interested parties to read the EIA, and that the full text of the report be made available in English for transboundary assessment. But Elly Sgurovska, head of the EIA department in the ministry, said that, based on international conventions, no transboundary EIA is needed for existing facilities like Kozloduy. She added that a non-technical summary of the report has been translated into English anyway.
The controversial new Czech nuclear power plant at Temelin was set to go back online before Feb. 24, after a month-long shutdown for repairs, but the Czech government is promising to address international concerns about the safety of the plant, according to reports. The Czech Environment Ministry announced Feb. 15 that they will respect the judgment of Austrian and German experts, as well as the European Union, all of whom questioned the safety of the plant, according to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE). The International Atomic Energy Agency began an inspection of the facility on Feb. 13, according to Reuters, and in response to the indications that the Czech government was cooperating with opponents of the plant, Austrian environmentalists announced Feb. 15 that they would temporarily put off blockades of crossing points at the border between the two countries, RFE said. But anti-Temelin activists are still prepared to fight the issue, and to help them they have hired renowned American lawyer Ed Fagan, who is famous for defending victims of the Nazis, according to Radio Prague.
SOUTH EASTERN EUROPE
Bulgaria plans to begin work on six new dams in 2001 to overcome water shortages caused by the continuing drought, according to a Jan. 19 report from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Environment Minister Evdokia Maneva told journalists the costs of the dams are about USD 22 million, they will be built by 2005, and they will help supply 450,000 people who are currently rationing water because of the severe 2000 drought, the report said. More about Bulgaria’s drought on Page 14. Romania has introduced water rationing measures and the country’s cabinet is discussing even more drastic means of addressing the severe drought that the country is expecting, according to a Jan. 8 report by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Power cuts and complete cut-off of water supplies for agriculture are possible as the country faces its worst drought in 50 years, the report said.
OTHER NEWS
The president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) announced at a Feb. 16 press conference in Helsinki that his organisation is considering setting up an environmental fund to coordinate environmental projects in the Baltic region and northwestern Russia, according to a report from Reuters. “We would like to consider the idea ... of creating by the EBRD and I hope ... other institutions, such as the Nordic Investment Bank, what we call a Northern Dimension environmental fund,” EBRD President Jean Lemierre was quoted as saying. He said the fund’s idea was still at an initiative level, according to Reuters.
Officials in the Czech city of Plzen have criticised environmentalists for forcing Mexican aluminium auto parts maker Nemak to consider backing out of plans for a six billion crown (USD 160 million) plant deal in a Czech industrial zone, according to a Feb. 12 report from Reuters. “Environmentalists have run a media campaign, and I’m afraid that Nemak is worried these initiatives are capable of postponing the project to the point where it would affect its own commitments,” Plzen deputy mayor Jiri Bis was quoted as saying. Plzen resident Ivan Cipera, who has helped gather over 9,000 signatures against the project, says that the plant would make the already poor environmental conditions in Plzen even worse -- and that it has no place in a light industry zone, Reuters reported. The project would be one of the country’s largest foreign investments to date, the report said.
A Polish-based construction company halted its work on a shopping centre near Krakow after a local environmental group filed a court petition saying that the work would have a negative impact on rare frogs living in a nearby pond, according to a Jan 19 report from Reuters. The builder, Exbud, said on Jan. 17 it had halted work on the project, worth EUR 50 million, pending further investigation, the report said. Exbud said it has followed all applicable environmental protection laws and planned to separate the 1,000-car-lot from the deserted pond by a fence, according to Reuters.
Estonia is close to eliminating seven of 13 pollution "hotspots" identified by the Helsinki Commission for Baltic Marine Environment Protection, according to a commission press release. After a March 1-2 regional environmental review by the commission, it was announced that Estonia would need an additional EUR 30 million to address remaining hotspots, especially three difficult sites: Kehra’s pulp and paper industry, the Kohtla Jarve wastewater treatment plant and the Narva power plant.
Hungarian Environment Minister, Bela Turi-Kovacs on Feb. 16 told a press conference he is concerned about Croatian plans to build a power plant on the Drava River, near the Hungarian border, because he feared plans to divert the river for a 3.5 kilometre stretch could seriously endanger the flora and fauna along the river. More than 100 people were hospitalised after eating fish that were tainted by two separate chemical spills into Romanian rivers on Feb. 15 and Jan. 17, according to news outlets. Meanwhile, a task force appointed to investigate the catastrophic January 2000 spill in Baia Mare, Romania, which decimated fish and other life in the Tisza River, issued a report on Dec. 15 that makes recommendations for preventing further such disasters. In the Feb. 15 spill, five people suffering from stomach pains were admitted to the hospital in Craiova, Romania, after eating fish from the Jiu River, which was poisoned by ammonia, according to Reuters. Faulty equipment at the active Doljchim chemical plant in Craiova, about 290 kilometres west of Bucharest, spilled an unspecified amount of ammonia, killing an estimated four tons of fish, Reuters said. Two weeks earlier, 21 adults and 79 children were hospitalised for conditions deemed not life-threatening after eating fish from the Siret River, which was tainted by cyanide when workers emptied a vat of the poisonous chemical into a tributary of the river because they wanted the vat for scrap metal, according to a Jan. 24 Agence France Presse article. The Dec. 15 Baia Mare report, prepared at the request of European Commission Environment Commissioner Margot Wallström, said such spills are a threat at many more sites throughout Central and Eastern Europe, including many abandoned sites. Tom Garvey, who headed the task force that produced the report, said the need for an inventory of these hotspots, and recommendations for new policies on mining and other industrial processes that can affect rivers, were the two most important aspects of the report. See the full report online. |
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CEE countries plan prevention of mad cow disease NUCLEAR Kozloduy EIA process criticised Czechs agree to checks at Temelin SOUTH EASTERN EUROPE Bulgaria plans dams to offset drought OTHER NEWS EBRD president calls for Baltic environmental fund Czech activists may block car parts plant Frogs halt work on shopping centre near Krakow Estonia makes progress with hotspots |
     
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