site.btaRegulator Gets Complaints about Bad Smells after Factory Relaunches Production Line

A day after the start of operations at Kronospan's medium-density fibreboard (MDF) panels in Veliko Tarnovo, the Veliko Tarnovo Regional Inspectorate of Environment and Water (RIEW) received 27 complaints about smells of sawdust and glue and about a bluish haze over several neighbourhoods of the city at different times of the day, the Veliko Tarnovo RIEW reported on Friday.

An inspection was carried out on various streets in the specified areas, in the presence of a complainant but without representation from the factory, as Kronospan refused to send their representatives. A smell of sawdust was detected, which constitutes a breach of one of the conditions of the complex permit. According to the permit, its holder must carry out all activities on the site in a manner that prevents the spread of odours beyond the premises of the production site.

A blue-tinged haze was also detected. The Veliko Tarnovo RIEW will take action to hold the operator of the installation administratively liable.

An inspection was carried out on the equipment of the operating line for the production of MDF panels. A malfunction was detected in the early hours of Friday, involving a leak from a pipeline to the line, which the company reported to the Inspectorate in a letter. The inspection found that the malfunction had been repaired, and work had resumed in the afternoon.

The RIEW continues to exercise enhanced administrative control over the installation in order to stop the systematic exposure of the population of Veliko Tarnovo to industrial odours.

Veliko Tarnovo Regional Governor Valentin Mihaylov took action following media reports that the Kronospan factory in the city was resuming part of its operations and that its chimneys were smoking again, the Veliko Tarnovo regional administration press service reported on Friday. Mihaylov requested an opinion on the matter from the Veliko Tarnovo RIEW. He insisted to know on what grounds production had been resumed.

Veliko Tarnovo Mayor Daniel Panov requested that the caretaker Minister of Environment and Water, Julian Popov, conduct an urgent inspection of the resumed operations of Kronospan and the factory's second production line. According to the municipal administration's press service, the request was made in response to more than 30 reports of odours received by the municipality on Thursday and Friday.

Panov is counting on the Ministry of Environment and Water and its agencies to take swift and urgent action, as they have done in recent months, in response to the citizens' complaints following the resumption of the company's operations. He emphasized that no one is against business, but the health and public interest of the people of Veliko Tarnovo come first. According to Panov, if the plant operates in compliance with the highest environmental standards and the model in other European countries, there will likely be no problems.

Following an unscheduled January 15 inspection prompted by numerous citizen complaints about strong odours and haze in residential areas, the Veliko Tarnovo RIEW ordered the suspension of the particleboard production line at the Kronospan wood-processing plant a day later.

The plant appealed the measure, and on January 24 the Burgas Administrative Court suspended the preliminary enforcement of the coercive administrative measure ordering the suspension of production.

On January 25, the RIEW sealed the particleboard production line at the Kronospan wood-processing plant.

On February 20, Bulgaria’s Supreme Administrative Court published a decision to uphold the provisional enforcement of the order issued by the RIEW to shut down the Kronospan plant in Veliko Tarnovo.