Two kilometers from the oil refinery in Modrica there are between 20 and 25 thousand tons of acid tar. These are the data confirmed for Radio Free Europe by the Ministry of Spatial Planning, Construction and Ecology of the Republika Srpska (RS) entity.
It is waste that is created during the processing of used motor and industrial oils with sulfuric acid and active clay.
These oils were collected in the refinery until 1996. The waste that remained after processing was transported to the chemical waste landfill in the nearby settlement of Garevac.
The oil refinery in Modrica, in the north-east of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), was bought 15 years ago by the Russian company NeftegazInKor, a subsidiary of the Russian state company Zarubezhneft. According to the environmental permit, the Russians were obliged to remove the chemical waste.
According to the Ministry of Spatial Planning, Construction and Ecology, this has not happened to date.
The acid tar landfill is located in a settlement where about 2,000 citizens live. This part of Modrica was built after the end of the war in BiH (1992-1995). The municipality of Modrica allocated plots at this location to citizens who were refugees and displaced persons in that town.
Rada Smiljic is one of those persons and she said: “When it catches fire and stops burning, then the smoke pours for days. It smells worse in the summer than in the winter. It smells like fuel and oil. I don’t think anyone is interested in the fact that it still exists and pollutes.“
According to the Municipality of Modrica, the chemical landfill threatens the health of the population. The pollution study has not been done for 15 years, that is, since it was owned by a Russian company.
Remediation of chemical waste landfills was repeatedly the topic of discussion between the authorities in the Government of the RS entity, where the refineries are located, and representatives of both refineries and Zarubezneft.
In the competent ministry, they state that the Municipality of Modrica should also be included in the permanent disposal of waste and remediation of the land, because “it has issued a permit for the disposal of tar waste”, RSE reports.
E.Dz.
