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Elbe Vulnerable as Czech Chemical Factory Floods PRAGUE, Czech Republic, August 15, 2002 - Floods have inundated two dioxin contaminated buildings at the Spolana chemical factory outside Prague, creating the potential for hazardous chemicals to wash into the Elbe River, a Greenpeace observation team said today. Ninety percent of the company sites are under water and the mercury contaminated area has been flooded since yesterday. This afternoon a chlorine cloud at the factory forced local residents to seek safety indoors. The Greenpeace team had earlier observed smoke coming from the the factory site. Overnight a small explosion occurred inside the factory.
Spolana a.s. Neratovice on the banks of the Elbe River (Photo credit unknown)The Vltava River burst its banks Tuesday after days of torrential rains. Water engulfed the city of Prague, flooding the historic city center. Some 200,000 people have been evacuated in the Czech Republic, and across Central Europe the rains continue and the rivers run high.The current flooding threatens to poison the Elbe River not only with dioxins and the mercury from vinyl chloride production, but also with other toxic substances from the Spolana facility such as DDT, endrin, diendrin, lindane, benzene and heptachlor, the environmental watchdog group warns. “Spolana should be made accountable for the damages caused by this accident. They have known for years about the risks connected with contamination on their site,” said Martin Hojsik, Greenpeace toxics campaigner for Greenpeace Central Europe.
Czech President Vaclav Havel (Photo courtesy Office of the President)Spolana a.s. Neratovice is one of the largest companies in the Czech chemical industry. It is owned by Unipetol which in turn is owned by the National Property Fund of the Czech Republic - the Czech state.Neratovice is the town 25 kilometres (15 miles) north of Prague on the River Elbe where the company has its headquarters on a 262.5 hectare (649 acre) site. Spolana produces polyvinylchloride (PVC) and other basic chemicals and pharmaceutical products. According to Greenpeace, the two dioxin contaminated buildings were former production facilities of the herbicide 2,4,5-T, more commonly known as Agent Orange. An accident at the chlorine station in July 2000 had negative consequences, "mainly in the media," said Jaroslav Strop, Spolana's general director,. After a technical failure, there was a leak of 188 kg of chlorine into the air. The company halted its 2,4,5-T production on account of the severe health effects on workers in 1968. Extremely high dioxin concentrations were indicated within in the surroundings of the contaminated buildings.
Chemical tanks at Spolana (Photo courtesy Spolana)Greenpeace has been fighting Spolana over chemical pollution for a long time and blames the company for allowing the contaminated buildings to remain within the Elbe flood zone despite environmental concerns for potential flooding.Last December, Greenpeace challenged Strop to take direct steps to secure the buildings on the Elbe banks that are heavily polluted with dioxins. The company put a flood barrier around one of the more endangered buildings after Greenpeace pressure. “Despite knowing about the dangers, the company has not taken specific measures to clean up and prevent what we now see today,” Hojsik said. Elsewhere across Central Europe the rain continues. The Danube is surging through Slovakia and threatening the capital, Bratislava, and Romania is facing the consequences of floods which have swept 24 counties. |
