"National Center for Hazardous Waste Treatment" Project

The PHARE project financed the feasibility study of the project "Construction of the National Center for Hazardous Waste Treatment." In 2000, the tender for the project was won by the consortium of Danish firms "Kemkontrol" and "Fishter." The contract includes: feasibility study of the technical, economical and financial possibilities for the National Center Construction; In formation campaign; Choice of the project site; EIA report; Preparation of the preliminary project, and the application documents for the ISPA program. The investor of the project is the Bulgarian Ministry of Environment and Waters. The consultant proposed four sites as possible project sites for the National Center, out of 30 in the preliminary investigation. In January and February of 2001, the Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Eu rope (REC)- Bulgaria conducted Information campaigns in four sites. The main aim of the campaign was to increase the local citizens' awareness of the incineration factory and the waste problems. A movie about a similar center in Den mark, including incinerator, was shown to local administration, media and citizens. A brochure was distributed. The research among the people that attended presentation was done with the main question: Do you know about the Project? According to the REC research at the time of the in formation campaign, people in the four regions had a positive attitude to the project.

Later, two of the pro posed sites fell off due to local protests against the construction of the Hazardous Waste Treatment installation on their territory. The third site, near the village of Beglej, was obviously unsuitable as it was situated in a lime stone region. According to Bulgarian legislation, a land fill can not be built in a limestone area. Nevertheless, it remained as an official alternative location.

In the beginning of May 2001 the procedure for discussion of the preliminary EIA report was opened. Public hearings on the report were conducted on May 20 in Radnevo and on May 21 in Beglej. Approval of the EIA report by the Expert Council of the Ministry of Environment and Waters came on May 22, one day after the public meetings. In this way the right of the participants in the Public hearings to submit statements was violated and the weaknesses of the EIA report were found out during the Public discussions. At the end of May, the project was submitted to ISPA for financing.

History of Public Involvement

After the first presentation was made in February by REC in the town of Radnevo, a second round of presentations was conducted in April. Thus, for the first time the affected citizens from the villages of Kovachevo, Pet Mogili, Radecki, and Novoselec were informed about the project. Local citizens reacted negatively to the proposal of such installation being built in the region, and left the presentation. Instead of looking for the reasons behind their negative attitude, local authorities and project leaders accused local citizens of being ill mannered. Thus, the project development continued with out any public involvement. On May 20, 2001, at a public hearing on part of the EIA procedure, there were no local citizens from the affected villages of Kovachevo, Pet Mogili, Radecki, Novoselec and Mlekarevo present, except the municipal authorities. People from Kovachevo stated that they were not informed of the meeting; neither were they aware of the purpose and importance of it.

In Au gust, people from Kovachevo formed a civil commit tee and collected 408 signatures (from around 580 residents with voting power in the village) against the construction of the Centre for Hazardous Waste. With the help of the Stara Zagora region governor, Maria Neikova, the petition was submitted to the Bulgarian Parliament. Two meetings with the local authorities and parliamentarians fol lowed. People from Kovachevo were informed that the project was in a very advanced stage, and that it was impossible to stop or even debate. In addition, they were told that it was better to agree to benefit from the project. In connection with the final EIA, the Expert Council of the Ministry of Environment was informed of the local citizens' petition. Without considering their arguments, the Ex pert Council made a decision to allow project realisation. One month after the signature of the approval of the decision, the local citizens were formally asked for their arguments. At that meeting, the Deputy Ministry of Environment several times stated that NGOs had manipulated the local population.

Now there are two more local citizens' petitions against the project from the Pet Mogili village - 726 people and from Novoselec village - 493. The 20 000 people working in the nearby Thermal Power Plant complex "Marica Iztok" and in the extraction enterprise "Mini Marica Iztok" Ltd. also consider that a new public hearing should be conducted as they have never been informed about the project. In addition to the lo cal citizens' concerns, the NGOs' position was totally neglected by the Bulgarian authorities. At the end of 2000, NGOs for the first time stated the need for a preliminary investigation of the dioxin contamination around the future site to be conducted.

Two statements on the EIA reports were submitted, describing the lack of alternative solution for treatment and insufficiency of the health risk study as main problems with the project. No response was received during the EIA procedure with explanation why the NGOs' arguments were not taken into account. On September 10, 2001, based on the problems with the National Center for Hazardous Waste Treatment project, an appeal to the ISPA program was submitted, signed by 74 organizations from 28 countries. They asked for a review of ISPA objectives and policy in waste management in Bulgaria and for emphasis on projects that prevent waste generation and are environmentally safe.

"The Bulgarian authorities have given certain assurances" for "full public consultation in line with the EU Directive on EIA" according to the answer of Mr. Jean-Marie Seyler, Acting Di rector of the ISPA program, to the NGOs Open Letter. Thus, the Bulgarian Ministry of Environment accepts the EIA procedure as finalised; nevertheless, the Commission considers the project as not ready and will not finance it in 2001. The Commission also proposed further investigation to be made for the dioxin contamination risk. In conclusion, we couldn't find how the investor benefits from formally conducted public discussions. The Ministry of Environment did not receive the grant in 2001. The approval of the National Centre costruction was made in violation of the Bulgarian Law for Protection of Environment and now there is a law suit against the decision. Local citizens have the feeling that their opinion was neglected and will oppose any construction in the region. The European Commission has gained an image of a supporter of "dirty" projects, as the financing coming from ISPA was often used as a pressuring element.

In 2003 the MOEW started a preparation for submitting in September 2004 the project for National Hazardous Waste Centre to ISPA for financing.

According to a letter sent to the MOEW and the Ministry of finances by the European Commission and the European Investment Bank, the investments evaluated in the previous version of the project had been reduced. Therefore, in the new version of the project the investments should be properly estimated. EC also recommends decrease of the capacity of the facility in order to be fully utilized. For now Za Zemiata has only parts of the letter but we are trying to get whole of it.

On 15 March a consultation regarding the scope of the EIA was conducted by the MOEW with representatives of NGOs. (a brief of the meeting could be viewed here). Za Zemiata and CEIE submitted a statement about some additional data and analysis that should be included in the EIA. Meanwhile, the newly elected municipality council of Radnevo has voted in January with 18 votes "for" and no "against" or "absent" that they do not want this facility on their territory. On 7 April a joint declaration by the local affected people and the workers at the 3 TPP supported by the trade-unions was submitted to the President of Bulgaria, the Bulgarian Parliament, local authorities and medias. The people stated that no official representative took their opinion into account and will fight against the construction of the Centre.