Za Zemyata, one of Bulgaria’s largest environmental organisations, has accused the Bulgarian government and local authorities of hiding the true picture of air pollution in major cities.
Official measurements in the capital, Sofia, have been “illegal for years” because the state-run stations for measuring air purity are outside the most polluted city centre, according to Za Zemyata (For the Earth in Bulgarian).
“The Ministry of Environment and Water has hidden from the public for years that Sofia’s air measurement system is compromised and does not report pollution correctly, even though they had the data to do so. In the meantime, thousands of city residents have suffered, and some may have died prematurely, from diseases related to the polluted air,” Za Zemyata claims.
An independent investigation by Euractiv Bulgaria shows that the official measuring stations monitoring air cleanliness in the country’s three largest cities (Sofia, Plovdiv and Varna) are outside their central areas.
The government sensors were removed from the central parts of these cities after 2010 when the European Commission launched two criminal proceedings for breaching EU clean air legislation.
The official reason for the relocation was “municipal infrastructure projects”, but in 2022, the then Minister of Ecology, Borislav Sandov, admitted to parliament that Bulgaria had to move the sensors that measure air pollution to avoid fines from the European Commission.
Eight of the country’s 30 automated air quality monitoring stations will be relocated between 2011 and 2024. Many of these sensors were located in the most polluted areas of Sofia, Plovdiv, and Varna and have been moved out of central areas.
Civil society activists have already condemned local authorities in Sofia and Plovdiv for their dirty air, but no action has been taken to implement the court rulings so far.
In the last eight years, Bulgaria has twice been condemned by the EU Court of Justice for air pollution. The European Commission even demanded a €650,000 fine for every day the country fails to comply with EU laws, though the European Court of Justice did not allow this fine to be imposed, a new case is pending over the country’s clean air.
One pollutant alone – particulate matter 2.5 microns in size – accounted for more than 10,000 premature deaths in Bulgaria in 2020, according to the WHO and the European Environment Agency – meaning that one in 10 Bulgarians dies from causes related to polluted air.
Dimitar Ploshtakov, a civil activist and lawyer from Plovdiv, told Euractiv Bulgaria that he had filed a lawsuit against the state for € 5,000 in compensation for damage caused by air pollution. Plovdiv’s 330,000 residents can sue the state over the dirty air if he wins the case.
“I have witnessed data manipulation, which is in itself a crime under the Bulgarian Penal Code, committed at the highest level of the administration. I do not bear hopes that there will be an adequate reaction at national level. My hopes are mainly related to a reaction from the European institutions,” said Ploshtakov.
Bulgaria’s Environment and Water Ministry has rejected accusations that it is covering up air pollution. It insists that all air quality monitoring stations comply with European and Bulgarian legislation.
(Krassen Nikolov | Euractiv.bg)
Source: euractiv.com
