La nostra petició d'intervenció contra els residus químics abandonats a Santa Coloma de Cervelló, als membres de la Comissió Europea, i adreçada als seus Comissaris:
JANEZ POTOCNIK ( medi ambient )
http://ec.europa.eu/commission_2010-2014/potocnik/index_en.htm
JOHN DALLI ( salut i consum )
http://ec.europa.eu/commission_2010-2014/dalli/index_en.htm
European Commissioner
for Environment
European Commission
B - 1049 Brussels
(Belgium)
Dear Sir, Janez Potocnik:
We are sending you this request, as
a member of the European Commission Environment, understanding
the European Commission, as politically independent institution that represents
and defends the interests of the EU ,
and therefore its cities towns
and citizens , where the power by the governments of members states is
delegated ,and in this way is the agency
where the Europe people power is deposited.
We are
writing you from our village
08690 Santa Coloma de Cervello, in Catalonia, Spain and the reason of
our letter is let you know the
ecological aggression that we are suffering ,and that represents to live beside 2438 tons of chemical waste abandoned in a space at the open air inside of
municipality (GPS 41.37357----2.021428 ) ,where there was a former factory of
cosmetic products and detergents that ceased its activities at the end 2007.
Since
then, tens ton containers and hundreds of barrels containing chemical residues
have been exposed to the sun , rain and wind
in our hated graveyard.
Deterioration and the entry of people in the area have caused spills detectable
at first sight.
The
abandonment outdoors, leading to the deterioration of the
drums and containers, while the perimeter of the zone has not been properly secured, which has allowed
access to anyone.
It
should be noted that a few meters there are houses, a school, fields, a
passenger line of Railways and a little
stream of stormwater that connects with
the Llobregat river.
Several
departments have been connected with this problem, the Catalan Waste Agency
which depends on the government of the Generalitat de Catalunya imposed various
sanctions on the company and finally decided to make a complaint to the Office
of Environment and Courts ,accusing the company
of disobedience and
environmental crime. This occurred in 2009. Since then a lot of time has been
spent .But until today we have not positive solutions.
. Also
the Department of Environment and the Council of Santa Coloma undertook several
actions that have not been succesful in
any way , because until now none of the commitments made by those responsible
for the abandonment has been fulfilled.
The current ownership of the land, made some demolition works last year, the city council gave a license in order to do this work , but conditioning the license to the
classification and removal of waste.
The inventory was did, it has shown the
amount and composition of the products abandoned.
Unfortunately
the withdrawal has not been done. The
owner says he can not afford the cost of the withdrawal, according to the
information we have, has been evaluated between one million four hundred
thousand and two million euros.
Some
time after the inventory, we obtained from a Ph.D. university professor neighbour of our village, an interpretation of the risks to
health and the environment, that these products can cause.
Clasified in different danger levels.
*
Harmful to health
*
Harmful / Corrosive
* Toxic
by inhalation / toxic org. water
* Very
toxic and serious risk to health
* Toxic
/ possible carcinogenic effects.
It is possible to read the full report in our blog
www.prouresidussantacoloma.blogspot.com
In this situation a group of citizens with the support of the neighborhood
association (Casc Antic), we are organizing in order to achieve the total
elimination of waste.
We had several meetings with the authorities concerned to try
to resolve this issue of keen interest to citizens and
could become a danger to everyone.
The Catalan
Waste Agency. has not given any response or effective
solution, unless legal action to bring the company to the
Courts.
Has
also been implicated by the City Council
of Santa Coloma to the Agency for Health Protection.
We have just received its report where is
clearly explained that the storage of this waste poses a serious threat of
contamination of soil and groundwater as well as surface water.
Due the pollution detected in aquifers in the
area, other departments have been involved in the matter as the Catalan Water
Agency.
We have
been sending letters denouncing this situation, aimed at all sections of the
country, from the authorities in our
region to the King of Spain.
Unfortunately
we have not received response in the most part of them.
Summarizing
, no action has been successful so far,
and there is nothing that makes us think of a short-term solution.
We are a local, independent platform.
In our
struggle we don't need to know who is responsible for the situation.
Our
goal is to reach the evacuation of waste , and its final treatment in order to
obtain a better place to live.
The
most important need and therefore we understand that the essential goal of our
fight is that the competent authority (we understand that the Catalan Waste
Agency or the Department of Land and Sustainability of the Government of
Catalonia) acts directly removing abandoned waste, because we understand that
this is a cause of general interest and can’t
be delayed further.
Then
the courts will say who has to finally take the cost of withdrawal.
For
this reason we turn to you, to kindly ask you:
1. Your
support, urging the Spanish Government and the Government of Catalonia as well,
to run immediately,the removal of chemical residues.
2. Your
affirmative support to the proposed resolution within the 250-00714/09 process
in this sense the Catalan Parliament is working.
3. Let us invite you to know the reality of which we speak, making a visit to our people
so we can show in-situ the reality that we have spoken.
We seek
to end this threat and request their intervention in the means at their
disposal to achieve this goal, for the health of this town of Santa Coloma de
Cervello and also the region of Baix
Llobregat, we hope to have a clean Catalonia and therefore Spain and a better
world.
If you
would like to have further information
, you can visit our blog
www.prouresidussantacoloma.blogspot.com
We
kindly ask your support :
To the
immediate removal of waste from the former chemical plant in Santa Coloma de
Cervello. (Catalonia / Spain)
Santa Coloma
de Cervello, 29 February 2012
Signed:
Neighbors'
Platform against chemical cemetery
prouresidussantacoloma@gmail.com
Associació
de Veïns del Casc Antic
Santa Coloma
de Cervelló
Seu:
Casal Municipal Lluís Pascual Roca
Lluís Pasqual Roca, 36-38
08690
Santa Coloma de Cervelló
Barcelona
Catalunya
Spain
RESPOSTA
