December 16, 1998 * Volume 1, Number 15
E U A C C E S S I O N
Activists: EU policies could destroy CEE environment
By complying with European Union laws, the accession nations of Central and Eastern Europe could be agreeing to measures that will destroy their natural heritage and increase pollution, environmentalists announced in a Dec. 4 news conference in Brussels, according to Reuters. Friends of the Earth Europe, and sister environmental groups from the accession countries of the region, complained that the EU's Common Agriculture Policy promotes unhealthy, intensive farming; the EU's transportation policy would bring more superhighways while discouraging cleaner forms of public transit; and the EU's policies in energy and other fields are bad for the environment, Reuters reported.
Contact: The Society For Sustainable Living/Slovak Republic, Mikulas Huba, president, tel: (421-7) 392-751; or Jacek Kaczmarek, Association of Earth Friends - Alliance of Initiatives for the Local Community, tel: (48-59) 412-130.
Poland plans EU compliance on energy first, environment later
Polish Treasury Minister Emil Wasacz said on Nov. 24 that he expects his country to comply with European Union energy liberalisation laws by the time it joins the 15-nation bloc -- but added that EU environmental standards would only be met later, according to Reuters. Wasacz reportedly said Poland was in the process of adopting energy laws that would allow more competition than some existing EU states were prepared to accept. But he also said that the prohibitive costs of meeting environmental standards meant compliance would take longer than the deadline set by EU, Reuters reported.
Contact: Jacek Tomorowicz, Director, Foreign Department of Polish Ministry of Finance, tel: (48-22) 694- 3879; or Mieczyslaw S. Ostojski, director, Polish Environment Ministry's Department of European Integration and International Cooperation, tel: (48-22) 251-133; fax: (48-22) 253-972.
Poland's CPN to stop selling leaded petrol Jan. 1
Poland's largest fuel retailer, CPN SA, has decided to stop selling leaded fuel as of Jan. 1, putting them 12 months ahead of the European Union ban on leaded fuel sales that is to take effect in the year 2000, the firm's spokesman said on Dec. 3, according to Reuters. The firm reportedly plans to offer its U-95 petrol with potassium-based anti-knock agents to owners of Poland's many older cars, which are designed to use leaded fuel.
Contact: CPN SA General Director Tadeusz Jedrzejczyk, tel: (48-77) 819-919; fax: (48-77) 819-929.
N U C L E A R R O U N D U P
Funded by European Commission's DG-XI and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Activists arrested while opposing Bulgaria-Russia waste deal
Activists from around the world have expressed opposition to the transport of nuclear waste from Bulgaria to Russia, and some of their protests led to arrests, according to recent press releases. At a Dec. 17 protest outside Minatom, the Russian atomic power ministry in Moscow, three activists were arrested, according to a press release from Ecodefense. At a Nov. 13 Press Conference in Sofia, Bulgaria, activists, bearing a statement signed by "200 representatives of environmental, scientific and political organizations from all over the world," appealed to the governments of Bulgaria, Russia, Ukraine, Moldova and Romania to prevent the transportation of spent nuclear fuel from Bulgaria to Russia, which is allowed under a Dec. 1997 contract. Activists say the Russian-Bulgarian deal is not a solution to the problem of nuclear waste. Vladimir Slivyak, one of the anti-nuclear campaigners for Ecodefense who was reportedly arrested, has said the way nuclear fuel reprocessing is handled "creates a large additional amount of liquid nuclear waste, approximately 160 times larger than the amount of spent nuclear fuel sent."
Contact: Polina Kireva of Ecodefense in Sofia, tel: ( 359) 265-8216; or Vladimir Slivyak of Ecodefense in Moscow, tel: (7-011) 243-7286; e-mail: Serbian environmentalists protest nuclear dumping
Representatives of two Serbian environmentalist organizations said in Belgrade that they oppose plans by the domestic "nuclear lobby" to convert the former Gabrovnica uranium mine in the Stara Planina region, near Knjazevac, into a storage site for "nuclear waste from all over Europe," according to a Dec. 9 report from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE). The environmentalists added that they have letters of support from "more than 100 non- governmental organizations from around the world," RFE reported.
Contact: Dragan Gavrilovic, Environmental Protection Society - Nis, tel: (381-18) 333-825; or Zoran Mitic, Suva Planina Protection Society, tel: (381-18) 22-813; or Zvonimir Stankovic, The Alliance of Ecological Organizations of Serbia, tel: (381-30) 24-555; or Momcilo Vladimirovic, Knjazevac Assembly President.WHO launches a nuclear emergency project for Europe
A nuclear emergency preparedness project for Europe was launched in late November by the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Europe and the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health in Finland, according to a WHO press release. The project will act as a source of information and advice on public health in nuclear emergencies and serve as a clearinghouse for informing WHO member states about each other's actions, the release said. The project office is based at the Finnish Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK) in Finland, one of Europe's key nuclear response facilities, the release said.
Contact: Keith Baverstock, WHO project office, Finnish Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority, tel: (358-97) 598-8475; or Viv Taylor Gee, communication consultant, WHO Regional Office for Europe, tel: (45-3) 917-1263.Chernobyl, other reactors in Ukraine shut down
The last working reactor at Ukraine's Chernobyl nuclear power plant was to be shut for two months, starting Dec. 15, for repairs and installation of new safety equipment, according to the Environmental News Network. On Dec. 10, a fuel rod in that reactor automatically shut down after a malfunction, according to an ITAR-TASS report carried by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE). The Ukrainian Environment Ministry announced that no radiation was leaked during the incident, the report said. Earlier in the week, Reactor No. 2 at the Pivdeno-Ukrainskaya nuclear power station, 300 kilometers south of Kiev, was automatically shut down by its safety system, according to a Dec. 8 report from RFE. Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma criticised Energy Minister Oleksiy Shebertsov after that shutdown, which did not cause a release of radiation but was expected to induce brownouts, RFE reported.
Contact CEE-Bankwatch, e-mail: petr.hlobil@ecn.cz; web: http://www.ecn.cz/k2r4/; or Ukraine Ministry of Environmental Protection and Nuclear Safety, tel: (380-44) 228-0644.
A R O U N D T H E R E G I O NAlbanians threaten gunplay to close polluting factory
Residents of the Durres district of Porto Romano, Albania, have sent a letter to city officials threatening to use armed force to shut down a leather-processing plant that they claim pollutes the environment, according to a Dec. 9 "Albanian Daily News" report carried by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE). The residents warned that "if you do not shut down the factory that is poisoning us, we will pick up our guns and solve this problem in our way," the report said. The factory was built in 1990, closed within a few months by health authorities who said it caused environmental damage, then reopened in 1993, according to RFE. Officials reportedly said the Public Health Institute's most recent tests show that pollution levels do not exceed the legal norm.
Contact: Agostin Cara, Durres Regional Environmental Agency, tel: (355-52) 22-230.Hungary, Slovakia not budging in dam dispute
The heads of the Hungarian and Slovak delegations negotiating a settlement to the controversial Gabcikovo-Nagymaros dam dispute apparently achieved no progress toward an agreement after meeting with the president of the International Court of Justice in The Hague on Dec. 11, according to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE). Hungarian delegation head Gyorgy Szenasi told journalists that Slovakia is insisting that the court admonish Budapest for failing to reach an agreement and set a deadline for the implementation of its earlier ruling, while Hungary argues that the Slovak approach is unacceptable, RFE reported. Szenasi reportedly expressed hopes that bilateral talks, set to resume Jan. 28, will help solve the dispute.
Contact: Slovak Environment Minister Jozef Zlocha, tel: (421-7) 516-2306; or Dr. Judit Moser of the Hungarian environment ministry's press office, tel: (36-1) 201- 2619.New waste-water plant in Lithuania a boon for Baltics
A waste-water treatment plant for Klaipeda, Lithuania, opened on Dec. 4, will help clean up one of the biggest sources of pollution in the region, according to a report from ENDS Environment Daily. The plant, built with financial support from Finland, Sweden, the World Bank and the EU, is meant to cut out more than half the pollution that had been entering the Baltic Sea from this city, which had been identified as one of the worst sources of pollution by the Helsinki Commission on Baltic environmental protection, ENDS reported.
Contact: Lithuanian environmental spokeswoman Natalija Gedvilaite, tel: (370-2) 723- 251; or Finnish environment ministry, tel: (358) 919-911; or Swedish environment ministry, tel: (46-8) 405- 1000.
J O U R N A L I S M N E W SMIS plans media and environment workshop
A Media and Environment Workshop and Forum, scheduled for Feb. 4-6, will provide approximately 40 journalists from Central and Eastern Europe with an opportunity to hear about and discuss ways to improve environmental coverage of the region and to share their own experiences. The workshop, to be held at the head office of the Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe (REC) in Szentendre, Hungary, will include practical sessions, designed to give participants a chance to think about the way they cover the environment, while also giving them worthwhile stories to bring home. Scheduled guest speakers include Lester Brown, director of the Worldwatch Institute. The workshop is being organised by the Media Information Service, which publishes "Green Horizon."
Contact: Tom Popper, REC, e-mail: GreenHorizon@rec.org.Journalists invited to join Antarctica jaunt
The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is accepting requests from professional journalists who want to visit Antarctica during the 1999-2000 field season to cover U.S. Antarctic Program research, according to a Dec. 14 report from the Environmental News Network. NSF annually selects a limited number of print, broadcast, and on-line journalists, representing diverse audiences, for individual visits to the United States' three Antarctic research stations -- McMurdo, Amundsen-Scott South Pole and Palmer -- to cover NSF-sponsored scientific projects or research themes, the report said. Competition is said to be intense for a very limited number of slots.
Contact: Mary Hanson.
W H O W E A R EAbout Green Horizon
Green Horizon is a free newsletter designed to help journalists stay ahead of environmental news in Central and Eastern Europe. Twice a month, we'll offer tips on upcoming stories to watch for, as well as information and ideas to help you develop in-depth pieces about the region's environment. Green Horizon is produced by the Media Information Service (MIS) of the Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe. The goal of the MIS is to assist the media in covering environmental issues. It is funded by the European Commission's DG-XI and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
For a free subscription, research assistance or to find a source: Send e-mail to: GreenHorizon@rec.org, or call Tom Popper at (36-26) 504-000, fax (36-26) 311-294.
Copyright 1998 by the Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe
Ady Endre út 9-11 * 2000 Szentendre * Hungary
Tel: (36-26) 504-000 * Fax: (36-26) 311-294 * E-mail: GreenHorizon@rec.org * http://www.rec.org/
