SARAJEVO: A Bosnian steelworks run for two decades by ArcelorMittal, the global steel giant and Paris Olympics sponsor, is operating despite non-compliance with ecological standards, a group of investigative media said Thursday.
The plant in the central city of Zenica has “violated nearly all of the 141 measures” outlined in its last environmental permit issued by local authorities in 2022, the media said in a report.
The report, published by the Sarajevo-based Center for Investigative Reporting, French website Disclose and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, a consortium of investigative journalists, is based notably on official inspections findings.
In July 2023, the local environmental authorities warned against exceeding the threshold of particles released into the air, poor waste management and the failure to maintain a system to treat wastewater.
The wastewater “may have led to the discharge of sludge into the Bosna river”, one of the country’s largest, the report said.
Soil analysis, carried out in March from samples taken from gardens, schoolyards and healthcare facilities in Zenica, revealed contamination with “arsenic, lead, zinc, cadmium, nickel and copper surpassing the emission limit values… by two to three times”, it said.
Zenica was the sixth most polluted city in Europe last year, a Greenpeace report showed.
Record excesses of sulphur dioxide and dust particles are observed in the city for about 120 to 180 days annually, far above the permitted three days, according to Halim Prcanovic of the Zenica metallurgical institute.
Nikhil Mehta, CEO of ArcelorMittal Zenica who was also interviewed in the report, said emissions were being “managed effectively” and stressed that the company invested nearly 100 million euros ($108 million) in environmental projects.
The facility’s coke plant, responsible for 80 percent of its emissions according to the company, was closed in late April.
Mittal bought a majority stake in the Zenica plant, founded in the 1880s, in 2004, two years before merging with Arcelor.
The steelworks employs 2,000 people and another 12,000 indirectly, in a city of 100,000 inhabitants.
NGOs accuse ArcelorMittal of using the Olympics to try to restore its ecological image.
