Czechs seek air pollution data from Polish industrial companies

Warsaw, Oct 22 (CTK) - The Czech Republic wants Poland to provide it with detailed information on 24 Polish industrial companies over air pollution in Ostrava, north Moravia, near the Polish border, Environment Minister Pavel Drobil told CTK after meeting his Polish counterpart Andrzej Kraszewski Friday.

"We have passed (to Kraszewski) the list of 24 firms about which we would like to have the information on how they release pollutants and what will be the next measures in order to reduce them," Drobil said, adding that he and Kraszewski had agreed on a regular exchange of information.

The Czech Republic and Poland are also preparing a joint system for the monitoring of air pollution in the industrial agglomeration astride the border, stretching from Katowice in Poland to Opava, north Moravia.

The measured data will be publicly available since they will be part of an information system on air quality on the Internet, Drobil said.

Kraszewski has also unveiled a project of modernisation of the Polish coal-fired Turow power plant, situated north of the Czech border.

"The modernisation will seriously help not only the Polish, but also Czech side," Drobil said.

In the 1970s and 1980s, acid rains caused by the Turow plant largely devastated the Czech Jizerske Mountains. However, the plant was modernised between the early 1990s and 2004.

Its owner, the PGE group, wants to gradually decommission its three reactors by 2012.

Their output is to be replaced with a new, modern reactor in 2016, while the remaining reactors are to be upgraded.

The Turow plant is a dominant employer in Lower Silesia in Poland and it generates 8 percent of electricity consumption in Poland.