Hazardous waste stored at the former site of the Budapest Chemical Works
22.4.2015
Question for written answer E-006422-15
to the Commission
Rule 130
Csaba Molnár (S&D)
Two thousand tonnes of hazardous and flammable waste are being stored at the Illatos Street factory site on the grounds of the former Budapest Chemical Works. The waste is kept in leaking barrels resting on the ground out in the open air. The extremely toxic and hazardous materials that have been identified so far are dichlorobenzene, benzene, chlorobenzene and trifluoroaniline. The Budapest Chemical Works went bankrupt in 2008, but the hazardous waste has remained at the factory site. Between 2005 and 2008 Hídépítő Zrt and its subcontractor were awarded part of a HUF 1.4 billion Union contribution under the 2007‐2013 Environmental Protection and Infrastructure Operational Programme, and they began to decontaminate the groundwater. According to reports in the press, a significant part of the Union contribution was improperly used. The most recent measurements show that the amount of pollution could be hundreds of thousands of times greater than the threshold limit and could have penetrated up to 60 metres into the earth. The workplaces in the immediate vicinity of the industrial area fronting on Illatos Street include, for example, a medical research centre, but there are also residential buildings no more than a few hundred metres from the area. In the hope of avoiding a situation reminiscent of the 2011 red sludge disaster in Kolontár, I am looking forward to the Commission’s speedy response to the following questions:
- 1.Does the Commission think the Hungarian authorities will be able to ask for civil protection assistance under the EU civil protection mechanism in order to avert disaster?
- 2.In connection with the above case, is the Commission planning to investigate whether Hungary applied the EU environmental protection regulations properly and whether it took out adequate environmental liability insurance on the factory site?
- 3.Is the Commission planning to investigate whether Hungary observed the pertinent parts of the Seveso II Directive on major accidents involving dangerous substances?