In the investigation carried out by the Ministry of the Environment into the power generation barges located in the province of Azua after a spill registered last week, violations of the environmental license granted to the project last year have been detected.
At the end of November 2022, the Ministry of the Environment granted the project environmental license 0482-22 for three years “as long as the promoter (the company) fully complies with the conditions established in the provisions, which form an integral part of the license.
The vice minister of Coastal Marine Resources of the entity, José Ramón Reyes, told Diario Libre that the institution is still working on the report to determine possible damage to local biodiversity after the incident last Thursday. The Vice-Ministries of Coastal Marine Resources and Environmental Management are working on the information.
“There is a part of the results that we are missing, but that will not be without consequences,” warned the official, who maintained that the incident “should not have happened. The polluter already pays; that is in Law 64- 00 (on Environment)”.
Obligations
In Article 45, the law mentioned above establishes that environmental licenses “oblige the promoter to assume administrative, civil and criminal responsibilities for damages caused to the environment and natural resources.”
The norm warns: “If these damages are the product of violating the terms established in the Environmental License, you must assume the pertinent legal and economic consequences.”
The environmental permits also require “observing the provisions established in the current special rules and regulations, executing the Environmental Management and Adaptation Program and allowing environmental control by the competent authorities.”
The vice minister recalled that the Karadeniz Powership company, which is in charge of the plant’s operations, “has to comply with everything in its license because when we issue an environmental permit, we take all the necessary parameters based on studies. ”
The incident
According to what was indicated by company executives, the spill occurred when personnel were preparing to remove residual waste known as sludge (bilge) from the boats when one of the hoses that removed the material broke.
The company representative, Carlos Matamoros, reported: “It is one of the sludge hoses that broke, and the situation is now under control; the cleaning has already been done, and we have implemented the cleaning protocol that we have for this type of eventuality,” held.
