The issue of removal of hazardous hexachlorobenzene waste from Kalush that in 2011-2013 was performed by “SI Group Consort Ltd” (Israel) has been repeatedly raised both in Ukraine and abroad.
This is the company that won the tenders for procurement of state services of hexachlorobenzene waste removal performed in 2011-2012 by the Ministry of Environment of Ukraine and the Department of Construction, Communal Services and Architecture of Ivano-Frankivsk regional state administration in 2013. The last public tenders were performed at the procedure of procurement from one provider, which was stipulated by limited timeframes for the procurement procedure and by the fact that “SI Group Consort Ltd” earlier had concluded an agreement with the Ministry of Environment to remove pesticides and therefore has experience in this field. However, in the procedure of selecting the sub-contractor for removal of hexachlorobenzene the public authorities ignored the important fact that that company did not have a license for such works.
874019 mln UAH were allocated from the state budget for removal of hexachlorobenzene. Moreover, the department of Ivano-Frankivsk regional state administration owes “SI Group Consort Ltd” 294 300 049 UAH 47 kop.
However, hexachlorobenzene was not fully removed from the polygon of hazardous waste. Result of analysis of soil samples taken from the polygon show that the concentration of hexachlorobenzene is 15540,0 mg/kg (maximum allowable concentration is 0,03 mg/kg), which means that the norm is exceeded by 518 times.1
Despite these facts, “SI Group Consort Ltd” that has no license for hazardous waste management and after work of which concentration of hexachlorobenzene in soil remained critically high, filed a lawsuit to the US District Court of the Southern District of New York against Ukraine with the request to execute in the USA the decision of the Economic Court of Ivano-Frankivsk region about charging the debt for providing services of removing hexachlorobenzene waste2. In this case the court adopted the decision in favor of Ukraine and declined all claims of the plaintiff stipulating the decision by the fact that Ukraine has a sovereign immunity in this court proceeding.
Such a court decision is definitely positive for Ukraine but it does not solve the problem: despite the declared works and allocated huge amounts of budget funds, waste hexachlorobenzene remains on the polygon and causes serious hazards for health of residents of Kalush and neighboring villages and for the environment.
The State Environmental Inspectorate of Ukraine, the Ministry of Environment of Ukraine, the President of Ukraine as the guarantor of the Constitution and the right to safe and healthy environment should take all necessary measures to eliminate contamination of soil with hazardous waste. Enforcement bodies should control criminal proceedings initiated following the removal of hexachlorobenzene. The Ministry of Environment and other authorities should pay special attention to what companies they issue licenses and with whom they conclude agreements.
Detailed information about EPL’s research on hexachlorobenzene waste removal can be found at the following links:
1 http://epl.org.ua/news/1396-u-kalushi-pislia-ochyshchennia-polihonu-vidkhodiv-otruta-vyshcha-za-normu-u-0-5-mln-raziv-ekolohy
