Firms unprepared for pollution prevention permits

By Aleksander Nowacki

Randy M. Mott is an attorney with 25 years of experience in environmental law, half of it in central Europe. As the president of EkoTechnology, an air-pollution equipment supplier, it is his immediate concern that the country's environmental laws are enforced. Now he is turning his attention to what he sees as the government's failure to protect the interests of the country's industries by conceding virtually the entire environmental chapter of the accession treaty without transition periods.

Mott particularly has his eye on the Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) directive, which will affect more businesses than any other related EU regulation. It will come into force in Poland on the first day after the country enters the union. Under the law, some 2,300 integrated permits for emissions need to be issued by May 1, 2004. So far, only three permits have been issued.

"I am not sure that either businesses or the administration realize the enormity of the task ahead of them," Mott said. "The IPPC directive is a completely new quality compared to the domestic environmental legislation."

Mott went on to say that many businesses are not aware of the consequences of non-compliance. Under existing legislation, companies were often happy to pay fines rather than comply with the rules. But the IPPC directive explicitly statesthat those companies that fail to acquire a permit before the deadline are to be shut down.

"We have a serious problem here," said Małgorzata Typko, the environment minister's adviser on IPPC. "Many businesses think they can do things in the way they are used to, but the new rules require a completely new approach." That is why, she said, the ministry is currently looking at ways to delay the directive's implementation for some industries. But she is convinced that businesses need to be more active in ensuring that they meet the standards set out in the directive.

These standards are defined on a case-by-case basis as the Best Available Techniques (BAT), a set of technological and managerial practices that reduce emissions to the minimum level possible under the circumstances.

"It is important that the authorities responsible for issuing permits act reasonably," said Andrzej Krześlak, IPPC consultant at the Polish Chamber of Chemical Industry. "You cannot expect domestic companies to use the same techniques as international corporations."

Krześlak warned, however, that the authorities must make sure that the requirements do not exceed businesses' financial capabilities, pointing out that the directive specifically refers to economic practicality as a criterion of BAT's definition.

"Economic practicality is one thing and profitability quite another," the environment ministry's Typko said. "If a company cannot afford to adapt to BAT, it will simply have to shut its installations down." That is a very real risk for some companies, she added.

Mott of EkoTechnology agrees.

"I am sure that it will happen," he said. "People need to start thinking (about IPPC permits) seriously." But it seems that with just a year before the deadline for most installations, there is very little activity in this direction.

"You do not see much interest," said Anna Zielińska, management board proxy holder at ProComm, which provides environmental protection services for industry. "You need extraordinarily extensive analyses of installations. It is as if people did not realize the need for permits."

According to Krześlak, most companies will need around 18 months to prepare permit applications, while the issuing procedure should take around four months. It thus appears unlikely that the May 1, 2004 deadline for permits to be issued will be met.

The scale of the problems faced by businesses is illustrated by the case of Rokita, a plant-protection chemical producer located in Lower Silesia. The company was selected for the IPPC pilot scheme, funded by the Danish Cooperation for Environment in Eastern Europe, a government agency that provides support in the environmental field for candidate countries. Starting in December 2000, 15 businesses, including Rokita, were taught the intricacies of permit-application procedures.

"We had not known anything like it before," said Piton Grobelny, IPPC project coordinator at Rokita. "It has required close cooperation of all divisions of the company." Grobelny said that the employees directly involved in the production process were crucial to the success of the project, while previously only the environmental specialist would be concerned with issues such as emissions.

In practice, work on the project started at Rokita in May 2000. Three years on and "we are in the process of permit application preparation," Grobelny said. It was only last week that the company received a response from the regional environmental authority, asking for additional information for the firm's application draft.

"We did not expect that we would need to put any more work into preparing the application," Grobelny said, "but emission parameters have changed since we drafted the application a year ago, and a new analysis is now necessary."

He is convinced, however, that it will not necessitate any further delays in the schedule. The company plans to make a formal application by the end of September this year, and Grobelny believes his firm will meet the deadline.

Randy Mott points out, however, that time is running out and other companies will not receive the same amount of guidance in the learning process.

"The results of the pilot scheme are hardly encouraging," he commented.