Town protests against burning of toxic sludge

Litomerice, North Bohemia, Nov 12 (CTK) - Five hundred people Saturday protested against the burning of toxic sludge from oil lagoons in Ostrava, northern Moravia, in a cement works near Litomerice in the next six years.

On Friday, a similar demonstration was held in Teplice, north Bohemia. The organisers of the demonstration presented a petition against the burning of imported sludge that was offered for signing in Litomerice, too. One of the protesters in Litomerice said about 800 signatures were added Saturday.

Pollution is a very sensitive issue in northwest Bohemia as many people still remember yellow and green fogs of the 1980s caused by enormous pollution. It was the most heavily polluted region of the country then.

"It is a big mistake that they are sending the sludge here because of the historical experience of the local people and their growing dissatisfaction with explicitly social issues, said Libor Pisklak, organiser of the Litomerice protest.

The locals fear that if the Ostrava lagoons' liquidator pushed his plan to have the sludge burned in northern Bohemia, it would encourage polluters to intensify their harmful practices in the area.

The Litomerice protest was supported also by the town's mayor, Ladislav Chlupac (Civic Democrats, ODS).

Chlupac said it seems absurd that similar materials would be burnt in the centre of the area called The Garden of Bohemia.

The protesting locals sharply criticised the regional authorities for not providing clear information on the controversial issue. They said they minded this even more than the burning of the sludge.

"It would be of course ideal if no sludge was burnt at all but we first of all want the whole process to be transparent. Obviously there have been many lies and misinformations and things were called false names. People have been losing their trust," Pisklak said.

Pisklak said this was the case of the regional office, while the communication with the cement works was good.

When Deputy Regional Governor Arno Fisera (Social Democrats, CSSD) wanted to address the protesters in Litomerice, the crowd whistled and called him names.

However, Fisera seemed to persuade many of the people by his speech, in which he put the blame on the rival Civic Democrats. He said an ODS-led government decided on the order for the burning of the sludge. The previous regional leaders and local politicians were to blame, too, he added, referring to further ODS representatives.

But former Czech Environment Inspection (CIZP) head Eva Tylova said the present regional authorities were responsible for the problem.

Tylova said the authorities confirmed a new permission for a sludge deposit in Litvinov, northern Bohemia.

The sludge comes from the Ostrava oil lagoons, in which the waste from the former Ostramo chemical plant was concentrated in the past and which are considered one of the country's biggest environmental burdens.

The toxic waste's removal, which the state entrusted to an association of firms led by Geosan, will cost 2.6 billion crowns.

The sludge is to be mixed with lime and burnt in the cement works in Cizkovice, northern Bohemia, selected as the most suitable for this purpose, within six years. About 110,000 tonnes of the sludge is to be deposited near Litvinov in the meantime.