Region: in the vicinity of the villages of Rozvadiv, Drohovyzh, on the outskirts of the town of Mykolayiv, Mykolayiv district, Lviv region
Core of the case: protection of the residents’ right to safe for live and health environment
Essence of the problem:
The plant functions without a project of sanitary-protective zone while the projects which are being designed seriously violate current environmental legislation. The plant is equipped with modern dust-catching filters; nevertheless, it constantly exceeds maximal admissible levels of emissions. There have been registered facts of the dust-catching equipment being switched off and facts of volley emissions. The plant initiated usage of alternative fuels like burning tire-covers, coal, wastes of cellulose and paper industry, plastic and other types of hard wastes. Legal control over compliance of the plant with land legislation, sanitary norms of construction and functioning of the plant is not sufficient..
The main facts:
On 14 June 1950 the first production line was launched and first cement was produced. In 1986 the producing capacity of the plant was 2 942 000 tons of cement per year.
On 2 December 1999 French company Lafarge took over 82 % of the plant stocks.
Capacity of the plant
It owns quarries of gypsum stone, limestone and clay.
At present 4 production lines are functioning, their total production capacity is 1.1 million tons of cement per year.
In 2004 Mykolayivcement produced 930 tons of cement which is about 11 % of cement market of Ukraine.
Investment projects of Lafarge at Mykolayivcement 2007-2008
Transfer of reversing furnaces # 1-6 from natural gas to coal as the main technological fuel. Due to this transfer coal (which will be used in the amount of 438 thousand of tons per year) will fully substitute natural gas which is used in the amount of 210 mln m3 per year.
Partial substitution of natural gas (15-16%) with alternative fuels in the furnaces #5, #6. Alternative fuels will include old tires, hard industrial and domestic wastes which are a mixture of paper, carton, wood, plastic. During this stage it is planned to substitute up to 12 % of natural gas which is about 25 mln m3 per year.
The projects have been realized at the plant since 2008.
EPL revealed serious long lasting violation of environmental legislation:
- There is no project of sanitary-protective zone. According to “State sanitary norms of planning and constructing residential areas” approved by the Order of the Ministry of Health #173 of 19.06.1996, the size of the sanitary-protective zone of Mykolayivcement should be 1000 meters. 5300 people reside within this zone now.
- During the whole period of the plant functioning there have been revealed facts of exceeding by three times of maximal admissible levels of polluting substances within normative sanitary-protective zone.
- Lack of proper monitoring of polluting emissions of the plant.
- The plant did not get permits to burn alternative fuels, and therefore there is no proper control over emissions of polluting substances.
The work on the case is performed at the national level.
