Press release

17/2002

Czech National Property Fund refuses to release information on the decontamination of Spolana Neratovice, Czech Republic!

Prague, 2 April 2002 - The president of the Czech National Property Fund (FNM) Mrs. Zdenka Nemcova refuses to give Greenpeace access to information concerning the tender and contracts on the liquidation of the toxic contamination in the chemical factory Spolana in Neratovice. The clean-up of buildings contaminated with dioxins and mercury is estimated to cost up to 4 Billion Czech Crowns (= 120 million EURO).

The president of the general board of the National Property Fund (FNM) Mrs. Zdenka Nemcova refused Greenpeace access to information in the contracts and other documents concerning decontamination work in the chemical factory of Spolana in Neratovice, Czech Republic. The liquidation of with dioxins and mercury contaminated buildings will cost an estimated 4 Billion Czech Crowns (around 120 million EUR). Greenpeace warned today that the public has a right to know in which direction the public tender is moving. Greenpeace is therefore prepared to turn to court to have the requested information published.

"The public has a right to know how public tenders are functioning. Secrecy around tender processes supports a dangerous environment of corruption," commented Dr. Miroslav Suta, Greenpeace coordinator of the toxics campaign in the Czech Republic and he added that certainly when such high stakes are involved, transparency is of paramount importance.

Already in January 2002, Greenpeace presented several information requests concerning the decontamination work planned in Spolana, both according to the Czech law on right of access to environmental information (law no. 123/1998 Sb.) and the general law on freedom of access to information (law no. 106/1999 Sb.). The National Property Fund refused all information on the basis that none of these laws have relevance for the Fund. Greenpeace went into appeal against this decision, which was turned down now by the president of the Fund.

The buildings and operation units at Spolana that are contaminated with highly toxic dioxins and mercury belong to the most contaminated sites in the world and the costs for decontamination of this the legacy from the former regime will be enormous. According to at present accessible information only the decontamination of two dioxin polluted buildings will cost around 2,8 Billion Czech Crowns (around 90 million EURO) and the mercury decontamination another 0,5 to 1 Billion Crowns (16 to 33 million EURO) (1). These costs will have to be carried by the National Property Fund (2).

The Czech Environmental Ministry and the management of Spolana already chose the way in which the dioxins will be removed. The chosen BCD technology (Basic Catalytic Destruction) was developed ten years ago in the United States, and already one firm in the Czech Republic has a licence to use it. The BCD technology according to Greenpeace specialists counts to the so called alternative destruction methods that under the right conditions can be used safely for the destruction of dioxins. It is not completely clear why and under which conditions exactly this alternative has been chosen and also not whether it was the best offer under the circumstances.

A feasibility study into the decontamination of dioxins in Spolana was paid by the US government (3) and it is no coincidence that the study recommended an American firm to solve the problems. "It is indeed possible that the chosen method and firm indeed are the best solution, but when stakes are so high, the process has to be completely transparent. Otherwise the door is opened towards possible corruption," concluded Dr. Suta.

Greenpeace at present prepares a legal complaint that should lead to a court decision concerning the National Property Fund's duty to make information on the decontamination work in Spolana accessible to the public.

The dioxin contamination took place in the 1960s, when Spolana Neratovice produced the dangerous herbicide 2,4,5-T under the trademark Arboricid E. This was amongst others used for the production of the chemical weapon Agent Orange that the US army used in Vietnam. The production was stopped in 1968 because over 80 employees of Spolana fell ill because of contact with dioxins. Two production buildings have been closed for over 30 years because of extremely high dioxin concentrations. A third building, the least contaminated one, was in 1998 closed off in a concrete sarcophagus.

Greenpeace runs since spring 2001 a campaign to force Spolana to take immediate measures against the danger of flooding of dioxin and mercury contaminated areas by the Elbe River and leakage of these toxic substances into the air. These measures should remain in place until a final decontamination has been carried out.

Further information:
Dr. Miroslav Suta, coordinator of the Greenpeace toxics campaign in the Czech Republic [English, Czech],
mobile: +420.603.443140, tel.: +420.2.24319667, fax: +420.2.33332289
e-mail: miroslav.suta@cz.greenpeace.org
Vaclav Vasku, press spokes person [English, Czech], mobile: +420.603.414739
Jan Haverkamp, Greenpeace campaign director in the Czech Republic [English, German], mobile: +420.603.569243

http://www.greenpeace.cz/agentorange/index_en.htm


Notes for the editor:
(1) Source: ČTK press release "Kužvart: Na likvidaci dioxinů jsou peníze a známe i metodu" ("Kuzvart: for the liquidation of dioxins there is money and we also know methods"), 19 March 2002.

(2) The National Property Fund of the Czech Republic signed in 1994 a contract with Spolana (contract number 33/94) in which up to 4,329 Billion Czech Crowns was reserved for the liquidation of environmental legacies. The National Property Fund keeps the exact wording of the contract as well as other related information confidential.

(3) The U.S. Trade and Development Agency gave a grant of USD 215.000 for the development of a feasibility study. http://www.tda.gov