Hungarian sludge spill to test EU environmental law
European environmental law designed to make companies pay for
any environmental damage they cause is facing its first serious
test as a result of the Hungarian toxic sludge spill.
The environmental liability directive (ELD) was introduced in
2004, but only implemented sporadically across the EU, with some
countries - including the UK - taking years to adopt the
legislation.
Hungary, however, was among the first and the keenest to enact
the directive, planning to make financial provisions against
environmental damage compulsory for large industrial groups.
Environmental law specialists are now calling on the Hungarian
authorities to fully demonstrate the ELD in their handling of the
sludge spill, which claimed at least nine lives.
James Thornton of European environmental law pressure group,
ClientEarth, said, "This accident will be the first really big test
of the ELD since its introduction in 2004. Failure to enforce
properly now could make the ELD meaningless, not just in Hungary
but throughout the EU."
The law means that liability extends beyond simply cleaning-up
and disposing of the material from MAL’s alumina plant in Hungary.
It also says polluters must restore a damaged environment to its
previous state, reintroducing animal and plant species or paying
damages when it is not possible.
Around 700,000 cubic meters of caustic sludge and water burst
from a storage pool at a metals plant on 4 October inundating three
western Hungarian towns and spilling into the River Danube.