Bulgaria’s “green” politicians have lent their voices on February 25 to the calls to shut down Kremikovtzi steel works in the outskirts of Sofia.

Green Bulgaria, Green Party and the Green Alliance all participated in the “Kremikovtzi – the environmental consequences for the region” round table discussion at the Sofia Press club.

Scientific research regarding the impact of the steel mill on the environment should top the agenda, with the protests of the plant’s employees taking a back seat, Vassil Yotov from the Green Alliance said, opening the discussions.

“The electrical furnace works with scrap, there are no chimneys and everything goes out of the windows,” Yotov said. He added that some of Kremikovtzi’s furnaces worked during the night and on weekends, further boosting the steel mill’s carbon dioxide emissions.

Kremikovtzi’s equipment was outdated and no amount of upgrading and modernisation would make up for that, he argued. “The 320 million leva (earmarked for environmental programs) would hardly be enough to cover the costs,” he said.

The winds in the area spread the dust particles and pollution from Kremikovtzi all the way to Vitosha and Plana Mountains, causing allergies and lung diseases in Sofia and even some of its surrounding villages.

“The situation with the stored refuse bales and the pollution of the underground waters is another question and bordering on crime,” he said.

Although harmful emissions exceeded the accepted levels by more than 100 times in some cases, Yotov claimed, there was no real monitoring of pollution, causing various diseases, especially in children and teenagers throughout the region

He also lambasted the steel mill’s management for prolonging the agony of the company by selling of some of its assets, including its tailing pond, sold to Ukrainian businessman Konstantin Zhevago, who last month was in talks to buy Kremikovtzi.

Zhevago is actively extracting metals from the pond, while Kremikovtzi operated at a profit by ignoring payments to suppliers such as state railways BDZ and gas company Bulgargaz, as well as running late on paying wages.

The status quo was encouraged by the low pollution fine levied by the Government. Running at a monthly profit of 12 million euro, the 12 000 euro was petty change, according to Green Bulgaria chairman Boris Kassikov. “Any manager can pay such fine and put it in the company’s account,” he said.

The only way to deal with the situation was to fine the company once or twice and then, if no improvement was evident, it had to be shut down, as it would have been done in any other European country. He added that the mill’s management offered no guarantees that Kremikovtzi would stop polluting, even if the steelworks implemented its 232 million leva environmental plan.

Kremikovtzi had to be shut down, with the Government providing the funds to retrain its employees, Nikolai Mitev from Green Bulgaria said.

“Over the past 20 years Kremikovtzi has only been used for siphoning off money and stealing,” he said, dismissing the claims of Economy and Energy Minister Petar Dimitrov that Kremikovtzi was responsible for two per cent of Bulgaria’s gross domestic product.

“Even if true, this money cannot compensate for the damage to people’s health,” Mitev said. The lifespan of all residents of Kremikovzi or nearby Yana village, decreased by six months for each year living in the steel mill’s shadow, he added.

But he also criticised the plans to redevelop the area, advocated by realtors and Sofia city hall.

“The idea to build a new city with business parks here borders on abusing the trust of local people, because it would take more than 50-60 years to re-cultivate the area and make it liveable again,” Mitev said.

Valentina Kostova from the Green Party echoed his words, saying that anywhere else in Europe the environment and the quality of life were more important than the money that has been invested.

The construction of a business park on the premises of Kremikovtzi place could not take place before the area was re-cultivated, she added. “The Government has to stop justifying itself with (Indian owner Pramod) Mittal,” Kostova said.

But she stopped short of advocating the outright shutdown of the mill, saying some of its production processes were not as harmful for the environment and could continue with the appropriate safeguards in place.

“We propose that the politicians, at this time, overcome the pressure by the business and take into consideration elementary human logic – close down all harmful production cycles and leave the less detrimental ones,” Kostova said.

Meanwhile, more than 1000 Kremikovtzi employees gathered in front of the still mill’s main administrative building on the morning of February 25 to protest against new delays in the payment of their wages. They shouted “Salaries!” and booed new chief executive Guntupalli Jagannadham, who demanded the sacking of trade union activists that asked for a 25 per cent salary increase in 2008.