WRITTEN QUESTION E-3072/02

by María Rodríguez Ramos (PSE) to the Commission

(25 October 2002)

Subject: Uncontrolled dumping of coal waste in the municipality of Ponferrada (Spain)

For many years there has been a slag heap in the middle of a built-up area of Ponferrada. It is a veritable mountain, which, together with another dump also situated in the town, amounts to 4 million m2 of coal waste. At the end of February, after a questionable procedure, the town council awarded the contract for its removal to Pongesur, a firm that has dumped the same waste 500 m from its original location and in a plantation of black poplars, also in the town, where trees have been felled in order for the dumping to take place. No planning permission has been granted for the dumping, and no environmental impact assessment has been carried out. The work is being done by unsuitable lorries which, as they travel through the town centre, are emitting an uncontrolled cloud of coal waste.

Do these activities conform to Directive 1999/31/EC(1) on the landfill of waste?

Can they take place without a prior impact assessment?

(1) OJ L 182, 16.7.1999, p. 1.

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(2 December 2002)

The dumping of coal waste is regulated by Council Directive 75/442/EEC of 15 July 1975 on waste(1) (as amended by Council Directive 91/156/EEC of 18 March 1991(2)) and Council Directive 1999/31/EC of 26 April 1999 on the landfill of waste.

Pursuant to Article 4 of Council Directive 75/442/EEC, Member States must ensure that waste is disposed of without endangering human health or the environment and must take the necessary measures to prohibit the abandonment, dumping or uncontrolled disposal of waste. The Directive further obliges Member States to ensure that undertakings carrying out disposal operations have a permit and are subject to periodical inspections by the competent authority.

If the waste is hazardous, it must be handled in accordance with the requirements of Council Directive 91/689/EEC of 12 December 1991 on hazardous waste(3).

Council Directive 1999/31/EC, which came into effect on 16 July 2001, lays down additional requirements for the permitting, design, operation, closure and after-care of landfills. Existing landfills, which are those that were already authorised or in operation on 16 July 2001, have to be adapted to the requirements of the Directive. Operators of existing landfills have to present a conditioning plan to the authorities by 16 July 2002.

Council Directive 85/337/EEC of 27 June 1985 on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment(4) (as amended by Council Directive 97/11/EC of 3 March 1997(5)) requires an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) to be carried out for waste disposal installations and landfills dealing with either hazardous or non-hazardous waste. The Directive refers to Directives 75/442/EEC and 91/689/EEC in relation to relevant definitions (i.e. whether waste qualifies as hazardous) for those projects that would always require an EIA. For other waste disposal installations the EIA Directive requires an EIA if the Member State determines (according to certain selection criteria) that the project is likely to have significant environmental impact and thus requires a full EIA. The EIA Directive requires that projects that are likely to have significant environmental effects are made subject to a development consent and an EIA in accordance with the Directive.

The Commission has the task of ensuring the correct application of Community law, in the light of the powers conferred on it by the EC Treaty. As the guardian of the EC Treaty, it will take the necessary measures in order to ensure the observance of Community law in this case.

(1) OJ L 194, 25.7.1975.

(2) OJ L 78, 26.3.1991.

(3) OJ L 377, 31.12.1991.

(4) OJ L 175, 5.7.1985.

(5) OJ L 73, 14.3.1997.