NEW DUMP NEAR LUKAVAC: How Much Poison Can Residents Endure?

Elektroprivreda BiH has requested that the Ministry of Spatial Planning and Environmental Protection of Tuzla Canton include a waste disposal site for the Tuzla Thermal Power Plant at the Šikulje open-pit mine in Lukavac municipality as part of the new spatial plan for the canton. The local government reacted strongly, explicitly demanding that this initiative be stopped. Elektroprivreda BiH stated that this does not involve opening a new dump, but rather that they have requested the Šikulje site to be "additionally designated as a location where by-products from the production process of the Tuzla Thermal Power Plant will be disposed of through mining activities, as all conditions for the project are already in place." In addition to local authorities, this issue has also alarmed the residents. 

Although Lukavac is among the most polluted towns, not only in Bosnia and Herzegovina but also beyond, there is only one non-governmental organisation dedicated to environmental protection. Citizens, organised under the Environmental Protection Forum of Lukavac, warn that establishing a "dump" at the Šikulje site would be extremely dangerous due to the terrain's configuration. Bajazit Okić, a retired mining engineer and a member of the organisation's leadership, expressed disbelief over the proposal, citing his professional experience at the Šikulje site. 

- This is the area of the Spreča Valley, and this is very important in this context where everyone planning such activities should know that here, beneath us, there is a very powerful reservoir of various types of water. That means drinking water, mineral water, and thermal water, with indicators of large quantities of high-quality drinking water, says Okić, warning that, in the event, this proposal were to be implemented, the negative impact on the environment would be enormous, not only in the area of the Lukavac municipality but also in neighbouring municipalities.

- The first issue would be the pollution of groundwater. The depth of the mine is 100 metres, meaning that all by-products from slag and ash would penetrate under the influence of water, snow, and other factors. Additionally, on the surface, whirlwinds of dust would form and be carried over great distances by the wind, warns Okić. 

On the other hand, Elektroprivreda BiH claims that completely inaccurate information about the implementation of this project has been released to the public, which has unjustifiably and unnecessarily caused negative sentiment within the local community and beyond. 

"In this case, it is not about opening a new dump, or a new disposal site for slag and ash, nor is it about the remediation and closure of an exploitation field. It concerns mining activities, specifically the reclamation and technical rehabilitation of degraded areas, which is a legal obligation of the economic entity, in this case, Coal mine 'Kreka' Ltd. Tuzla," Elektroprivreda BiH stated in their response to Žurnal's inquiry.

The local community would not be affected, according to Elektroprivreda BiH, as "all completed studies have shown that the by-product of the production process at TPP Tuzla, which is legally classified as non-hazardous waste, is in every respect a satisfactory material. When mixed in significantly smaller proportions with overburden material, it meets all necessary parameters in accordance with current legal regulations, without any negative consequences for the local community." 

However, the Forum states that residents have already witnessed how existing dumps have been managed so far. 

"We have had bad experiences with those dumps. If you want an honest answer to this question, just look at what happened with the slag and waste dump in Divkovići. Living there is impossible, and cancer rates are rising. Wherever this slag and waste are disposed of, it cannot be good for the environment or the population because their composition contains a lot of heavy metals," said Tahir Hrnjić from the Environmental Protection Forum of Lukavac. 

The past neglect of environmental concerns by authorities is raising fears of new potential pollutants. 

"In a small area, we have three operators stationed who fall into the category of mega polluters, whose existence would be too much for an entire country, let alone for a small town like Lukavac," said Tahir Hrnjić from the Environmental Protection Forum of Lukavac.

In March this year, the Forum reported that they conducted 11 days of air pollution measurements, focusing specifically on benzene, toluene, xylene, ethylene, hydrogen sulphide, and benzo(a)pyrene. The results were alarming. 

"Hydrogen sulphide must not exceed the limit values more than seven times in one year. The limit value for hydrogen sulphide (H₂S) is 7 micrograms/m³, while the highest daily average value recorded was 79.24 micrograms/m³, which is a concentration 11 times higher than the permitted level. Additionally, hourly values repeatedly exceeded the limit many times, with the highest measured hourly value reaching 256 micrograms/m³, which is 36 times the allowed limit," the Forum reported. 

The statement emphasised that these pollutants are responsible for the majority of cancer cases and have not previously been measured, nor is there a monitoring device for them in the Lukavac area. 

"We collaborated with the Zenica-based institute 'Kemal Kapetanović' to carry out the measurements. The monitoring station was installed 300 to 500 metres from the GIKIL pollution source, and the findings were horrifying, with daily exceedances ranging from 10 to 20 times the allowable limits. Furthermore, depending on wind direction, hourly exceedances often surpassed permitted levels. When we speak of exceedances 10 to 20 times over the limit, it should be clear to everyone the extent of pollution we are exposed to daily," the Forum stated.

The Forum states that to this day, citizens do not have access to official data on pollution levels, as there is only one air quality monitoring station in the city, which is frequently out of order. 

"In a city like this, with such a high level of pollution, it is highly inappropriate to have only one monitoring station that measures just five pollutants, while the residents of Lukavac are exposed to hundreds of other pollutants that this station does not monitor," says Hrnjić, explaining that the existing polluters, according to data from their environmental permits, "emit around 90 tonnes of various toxins, toxic compounds, and pollutants daily." 

"We believe these emissions are even higher because citizens have no insight into the level of emissions—it is strictly controlled by the polluters," he added. 

In 2019, the Environmental Protection Forum of Lukavac requested the local government to adopt a decision to install three TBX stations that would measure pollutants not currently monitored by the existing station. Although their request was approved, they report that city authorities have done nothing to address the issue to date. 

"Our three factories produce so much pollution that it is no longer tolerable. I think experiments are being conducted on the people of Lukavac to see how much poison they can endure, like guinea pigs. All we needed was a landfill on top of that," says Bajazit Okić from the Environmental Protection Forum.

Abandoning the disposal at the Šikulje surface mine is not an option for Elektroprivreda BiH, as they state that the selection of this location is the result of years of work to find a solution for securing an adequate site for the disposal of the by-products of the TPP Tuzla production process. This dates back to 2009, when activities began on the construction of Block 7 of TPP Tuzla. 

"Considering the fact that PE Elektroprivreda BiH has already developed a significant level of investment and technical documentation for the project, that there are no justified reasons to abandon this solution, and especially considering the importance of the project, it is not the adoption of the new Spatial Plan of Tuzla Canton that is crucial for continuing the activities. Therefore, PE Elektroprivreda BiH plans to continue activities on the realisation of this project in collaboration with the local community," stated Elektroprivreda BiH. 

The Ministry of Spatial Planning and Environmental Protection of Tuzla Canton confirmed Elektroprivreda’s statement, adding that the current Spatial Plan allows for the disposal of slag and ash on degraded land resulting from the surface exploitation of coal, which is located within the boundaries of the exploitation fields, following the preparation of study documentation. 

"The planned activities of the Coal Mine 'KREKA' Ltd. Tuzla (as per the mine’s letter sent to the Ministry on 18 October 2024), which concern the disposal of overburden from the coal exploitation process at the surface mine Šikulje in combination with by-products from TPP Tuzla (slag and ash), within the boundaries of this exploitation field, are in accordance with the designated uses of the land outlined in the Spatial Plan for Tuzla Canton," the Ministry stated.

In response to Žurnal’s inquiry, the Ministry stated that the Spatial Plan for Tuzla Canton for the period 2025-2045 is currently being developed. A Planning Council has been formed, which includes representatives from all local self-government units. The city of Lukavac has delegated a representative who is obligated to coordinate all activities with the entity responsible for preparing and developing the planning documentation. 

The plan to convert the Šikulje surface mine into a landfill for waste from TPP Tuzla, as claimed by Elektroprivreda BiH, is not recent. Discussions about this location also took place in mid-2021 during the preparation of the previous Environmental Impact Study for the project of building a flue gas desulphurisation plant at Block 6 of TPP Tuzla. At that time, Elektroprivreda also designated the surface mine Šikulje as the location for the future landfill.

The documentation from Elektroprivreda states that the Šikulje surface mine is located about 10 km in a straight line from TPP Tuzla and is well connected to the existing TPP Tuzla facilities by road and railway links. The urban centre of Lukavac is situated 4 km in a straight line from the surface mine Šikulje and the proposed landfill. Nearby settlements include Puračić, Devetak, Crveno Brdo, Šikulje, and Prline. To the south of the landfill, the Spreča River flows at a distance of 150 metres in a straight line, while to the north, the Šikuljačka River flows about 1.9 km away.

“The total area planned for the landfill is 456,000 m², which means that the waste layer will be 5.40 m thick in order to accommodate the projected volume of 2,440,000 m³ of by-products,” stated Elektroprivreda’s documentation.

The city authorities refused to discuss Elektroprivreda BiH’s proposal with journalists. Žurnal requested an interview with the Mayor of Lukavac, Edin Delić, but as of the publication of this article, no response had been received. Earlier, they issued a public statement stating that they did not agree with the proposal.

- The Mayor has already sent letters to Elektroprivreda BiH, Thermal Power Plant Tuzla, the Government of Tuzla Canton, the Cantonal and Federal Ministries of Spatial Planning and Environmental Protection, as well as to the Kreka and Šikulje Mines, stating that he does not agree with the proposed initiative and requesting that the Government of Tuzla Canton reject the amendment to the Spatial Plan for the Tuzla Canton region for the period 2025-2045, as proposed by Elektroprivreda BiH, the city administration announced.

The environmental conditions in the Lukavac area were previously detailed in the Integrated Development Strategy of the Municipality of Lukavac for the period 2019-2027. The strategy stated that industrial development has not been accompanied by investments in environmental protection, leading to poor conditions in all areas of environmental protection. There has been excessive air pollution, polluted soil and water, and large areas of degraded land caused by mining activities. Industrial wastewater in the Lukavac municipality contains suspended solids, nutrients (chlorides, phosphates, nitrites, and nitrates), sulfates, chlorides, heavy metals, radioactive isotopes, ammonia, phenols, toluene, benzene, and other hazardous substances.

The Spreča River, directly and via the Jala River, is burdened and polluted by industrial wastewater in the amount of 15,775,940 m3 per year. The problem causing this situation is either the absence of a system for treating industrial wastewater or inadequate treatment (e.g. only a certain amount of wastewater passes through a clarifier, while the rest is directly discharged into watercourses). Wastewater from the mines in the Lukavac municipality contains biodegradable organic materials and nutrients (nitrites, phosphates).

The quality of the Jala River water is entirely determined by the pollution from the wastewater of industrial entities (Tuzla Salt Factory, Polyurethane Chemistry Tuzla, Tuzla Thermal Power Plant) and municipal wastewater from the city of Tuzla, as these wastewaters constitute more than 90% of the total flow of the Jala River. Due to frequent floods caused by the unregulated section of the river, approximately 600 hectares of land for agricultural production have been either destroyed or are no longer in use. Based on years of monitoring water quality, it has been determined that all watercourses are in much worse condition than the legally prescribed quality.

Regarding air pollution, the strategy notes that since 2003, when measurements began, the air quality in Lukavac has mostly been moderately polluted or polluted. Decades of exposure to excessive pollution have caused Lukavac to become the leading city in FBiH for respiratory and malignant diseases. The strategy cites data from the Public Health Institute of Tuzla Canton and epidemiological studies, which conclude that air pollution causes nearly 40% of asthma cases, 30% of other respiratory diseases, and the number of cancer patients is about 20% higher than the Tuzla Canton average. In addition to air pollution, the health of the residents of Lukavac is also significantly affected by inadequate drinking water quality due to soil contamination with heavy metals, particularly mercury, as well as organic pollutants such as polyaromatic hydrocarbons in the Jala and Spreča fields.

(zurnal.info)