Portugal’s environmental association, Zero, is aghast at the government’s plan to dump sludge, to be dredged from the polluted river bed of the Tagus, onto registered ecological land in a protected area.The association of Portugal’s top environmental NGOs, filed its court injunction to stop the activities agreed by the Ministry of the Environment, under João Pedro Matos Fernandes.
Zero announced that it has filed the injunction, "over the illegal dumping of waste on land at Portas de Ródãom at the Supreme Administrative Court."
The Environment Minister earlier announced that the dredging of polluted sections of the Tagus river bed should start in the first week of June when around 30,000 cubic metres will be removed - the result of years of unfettered pollution from nearby pulp mills which has reduced oxygen levels to such a low that fish and underwater creatures have not survived.
The Environment Minister earlier announced that the dredging of polluted sections of the Tagus river bed should start in the first week of June when around 30,000 cubic metres will be removed - the result of years of unfettered pollution from nearby pulp mills which has reduced oxygen levels to such a low that fish and underwater creatures have not survived.
The minister, taking personal charge of yet another potentially explosive political blunder, said that before the dredging, a retention basin "properly covered by waterproofing screens" will be built to hold the sludge in check on dry land.
Zero said that alternative solutions had not been studied and wants the sludge to be returned to pulp producer, Celtejo, for it to deal with as it is responsible for 90% of the pollution, a claim which it denies.
Zero also said that the, "resolution of the Council of Ministers ignored the fact that it is obligatory that any such waste treatment operation is subject to an environmental impact assessment," pointing out that the operation involves "altering the topography of the land, the destruction of vegetation, the dumping of waste and the discharge of effluents."
Zero also slammed the Institute of Nature Conservation whose report into the matter contains "serious omissions and has not looked at other, more efficient and cheaper technical solutions for waste treatment.”
The injunction has been accepted and the government has ten days within which to respond.
