Toxic waste in Cartagena, Murcia region, Spain

5.9.2018

Question for written answer E-004514-18
to the Commission
Rule 130
Lola Sánchez Caldentey (GUE/NGL)

For over two decades Peñarroya SA — now Portman Golf S.L. — exploited open-pit mining resources in the Sierra de Cartagena. When it closed, the company left behind unsealed toxic tailings ponds which continue to affect the local community to this day.

Several studies have found levels of heavy metals and metalloids in children up to a hundred times above the permitted levels, and a high prevalence of respiratory and kidney disease and cancers.

In its resolution of 27 April 2017 on the application of Directive 2006/21/EC, Parliament stated ‘the historical heritage of abandoned mining waste facilities could, in the medium or short term, potentially pose a serious threat to human health or the environment’, and called on the Commission to ‘come up with an action plan on the full rehabilitation of these sites’, based on the ‘polluter-pays’ principle.

1. Is the Commission aware of the existence of a rehabilitation action plan?

2. Does the Commission believe that there has been negligence on the part of the regional administration?

3. Should Portman Golf S.L. undertake the work of remedying the environmental damage caused by its activities, or, where appropriate, bear the costs of such work?