Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2004-03-30-Speech-2-307"
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"en.20040330.13.2-307"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I should like to begin by thanking the European Parliament, and especially the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Policy, and by thanking the rapporteur, Mr Sjöstedt, for the work that he has put into his report at first reading.
Waste from extraction can be of such a composition and volume as to pose a serious threat to the environment and human health if it is not managed correctly. This has of course been seen in the major accidents in Aznalcóllar in Spain, in 1998, and also in Baia Mare in Romania, in 2000, when tailings ponds burst, releasing large quantities of toxic substances. This had an extensive environmental, economic and social impact.
The aim of this proposal is to introduce EU-wide rules to prevent water and soil pollution from long-term storage of waste in tailings ponds or heaps. The stability of disposal facilities must also be ensured in order to prevent the occurrence, or reduce the impact, of accidents. Combined with the amended Seveso II Directive on the control of major accident hazards involving dangerous substances, and a document on the best available techniques for the management of ponds for tailings and waste rocks, this proposed Directive will guarantee the appropriate management of waste from extraction throughout the EU.
The Commission shares the views of those who have said that the proposal must have a sufficiently broad scope, and that some exemptions, for example concerning waste from prospecting, should therefore be removed. In this context, the exemption for inert waste should not be extended to cover all non-hazardous waste, as that would weaken the proposal. Contamination from mines can indeed pose a problem, but it cannot be regulated by this proposal, which concerns waste.
Regarding historical waste, the Commission supports the amendments containing requirements for the most contaminated sites to be inventoried. In our opinion, however, it should be the Member States which make the decisions on the rehabilitation of these sites.
We also support the amendments emphasising the need to make appropriate plans for the closure of disposal facilities as early as the design phase.
I should like to conclude by pointing out that the Commission is striving for a directive that is sufficiently comprehensive to enable the achievement of these important environmental objectives."@en1
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