Environment Minister Tomáš Taraba (SNS nominee) should, according to the extra-parliamentary party Demokrati, continue addressing environmental burdens in other parts of the Chemko Strážske industrial complex, involving approximately 1,500 tons of waste. They also urge Taraba and Interior Minister Matúš Šutaj Eštok (Hlas-SD) to immediately tackle the Poša tailings pond issue, responding to the recent start of PCB waste removal from the former chemical plant site.
Former state secretary and Demokrati expert Michal Kiča criticized that “Taraba said nothing today about the Poša tailings pond, which the state transferred to a company without assets during his tenure,” and called for action on soil decontamination alongside Agriculture Minister Richard Takáč (Smer-SD).
Demokrati recalled that at the end of 2021, under Eduard Heger's government, the state began removing 150 tons of hazardous waste from a pig farm at the Orlová game reserve near the former plant. The Ministry of Environment launched preparatory market consultations in spring 2023 for a facility to neutralize and decontaminate hazardous waste.
Kiča stressed that “residents of Zemplín are no longer interested in endless blaming predecessors by the current government. We call on Ministers Taraba and Šutaj Eštok to accelerate decontamination of the Chemko Strážske site, launch public procurement for further hazardous waste disposal, address the Poša tailings pond, and tackle toxic substances in the soil.”
The removal of 150 tons of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) waste from Chemko Strážske has begun, with 35 trucks escorted by police transporting the waste to an incinerator in Vienna. The Ministry of Environment announced public procurement for waste disposal in February 2024, with an estimated contract value of €570,000, and disposal expected to take three months. About 80 percent of the waste is ready for shipment.
The next phase will involve disposing of 5,000 barrels of PCB at the Chemko Strážske heating plant site and preparing a geological survey of the area.
Source: TASR
