Industry free to pollute for past six months
Since Jan. 1, when amendments to the Environmental Protection Act took affect, regulations governing air emissions, noise levels and plant-life protection ceased to exist. At the same time, a standoff between the Environment and Economy ministries over how tough to make pollution standards has blocked government approval for new legislation.
"There is currently no basis on which to fine factories for air and noise pollution or plant-life (destruction)," said Andrzej Miloszewski, director of the Environmental Protection Inspectorate's (GIOS) control department, responsible for inspecting and punishing companies that exceed emissions norms. "When the secondary legislation (for new regulations) is put into place, we will carry it out."
But that secondary legislation has been delayed for months by the ministerial dispute, said Wieslaw Pawliotti, head of the Economy Ministry's energy effectiveness and environment department. The Environment Ministry is arguing for tough emissions standards, which the Economy Ministry says are too costly for industry, he added.
The standards will determine how much industrial companies must invest in new technology to limit air emissions. This is an especially sensitive topic because many of the industrial companies that would be affected are still state-owned and strapped for cash.
As a result of the government rift, officials responsible for environmental protection have been powerless to fight companies violating previously existing norms, Pawliotti said.
"There has been a hole for about half a year," Pawliotti said. "Somehow an oversight was made."
Not everyone believes the regulatory hole was simply an accident.
The initial draft of the Environmental Protection Act contained a clause stating that any new regulations left unwritten, when the act went into effect last January, would be governed by former regulations, said Waleria Skarlynska, an environmental lawyer at Baker & McKenzie. But that clause was deleted at the last minute, she added.
"Somebody, a tricky individual, removed this from the act," Skarlynska said. "As a result of this, everything has fallen into a gap."
While the Environment Ministry theoretically has until June to complete final regulations, the act's missing clause means that until the regulations are adopted there is no government control over industrial emissions, Skarlynska said.
"There's practically nothing the Environmental Protection Inspectorate is doing, no monitoring, no enforcement," Skarlynska said. "They haven't been fining anyone because they have no legal grounds to."
Current Deputy Environment Minister and former vice-chairman of the Sejm Environmental Protection Committee, Radoslaw Gawlik, denied that the clause was dropped on purpose.
"This was not intentional," Gawlik said, adding that the final act was passed during a period of electoral campaigns (August 29). "It was an omission."
And the GIOS's Miloszewski claims that despite the lack of legal restrictions on pollution, there have been no extraordinary violations reported to the ministry partly in thanks to the low profile the government has kept on this issue.
"Of course, we haven't advertised this very much," Miloszewski said. "We don't want all of the industries to know about it."
Even if Polish industry has not been caught taking advantage of the government's loss of control, government-sponsored organizations used to making industry more environmentally friendly will lose money from the mistake, Miloszewski said.
In 1997, GIOS collected more than zl. 250 million ($73.5 million) in fines from a range of industries, Miloszewski said. The top two violations were water and air pollution, he added.
"In terms of the fees for air, noise, and soil pollution, this touches on all sectors," Miloszewski said. "The whole system of environmental protection is suffering from this."
And with the state stuck in debate, local environmental controllers are finding their jobs tough, said Konrad Turzanski, environmental protection inspector for the Krakow voivodship.
"We can still collect environmental usage fees (determined by the voivodship)," Turzanski said. "But there are no fines because there are no limits" for emissions.
While a large number of high pollution industrial plants in the Krakow voivodship have long-term emissions norms and penalties outlined by the voivodship, up to 40% of the factories there operate according to state norms, Turzanski said.
In a highly industrialized area like Krakow, this leaves big industry unchecked, Turzanski said. Huta Sendzimira, which paid air pollution fines of zl. 17,000 (almost 25% of all the voivodship's air pollution fines) in 1997, is currently unregulated, he added.
"There have been no decisions made (regarding emissions levels) so why go there?" Turzanski said. "A decision from the ministry should come any day now. Then we'll go."
The Krakow voivodship collected zl. 6.6 million ($1.9 million) in total fines last year, he added.
But many other voivodships are unlikely to have an agreed list of long-term, high pollution enterprises like Krakow does, said Jan Piotrowski, head of the Legnica voivodship environmental protection inspectorate.
"We don't have a current list," Piotrowski said, adding that this means the voivodship can't control any plants there. "I expect that there are many voivodships around the country with the same situation."
Legnica voivodship is home to the largest air polluter in Poland, copper mine KGHM Polska Miedz, which paid zl. 23.6 million ($6.9 million) in fines for excessive air pollution in 1997, said Olga lukasiewicz, a specialist in the GIOS. The mining company ranked number two in terms of highest overall polluters for the year, she added.
"From (KGHM's) side there have been no excesses caused by a lack of legislation," Piotrowski said. "But our activities are seriously limited. The situation is unhealthy."
The Economy Ministry's Pawliotti said that a ministerial agreement on the secondary legislation could come this week.
A central focus of the Economy Ministry's argument is that the initial norms proposed by the Environment Ministry exceed those of the EU and are too costly for the almost entirely publicly owned energy sector, Pawliotti said.
"In our opinion these norms should not be much harsher than those in the European Union," Pawliotti said. "If a competitive edge is to be maintained, you can't have such a high cost."
The cost to the energy sector, based on an analysis of norms proposed by the Environment Ministry in April, is estimated at $5.3 billion, said Adam Gajda, a specialist in the environmental division of Polish Power Grid's (PSE) development department.
"In practice this is two times as much as we had the intention to go through with," Gajda said. "This would lead to the sector being pushed into debt."
"There is currently no basis on which to fine factories for air and noise pollution or plant-life (destruction)," said Andrzej Miloszewski, director of the Environmental Protection Inspectorate's (GIOS) control department, responsible for inspecting and punishing companies that exceed emissions norms. "When the secondary legislation (for new regulations) is put into place, we will carry it out."
But that secondary legislation has been delayed for months by the ministerial dispute, said Wieslaw Pawliotti, head of the Economy Ministry's energy effectiveness and environment department. The Environment Ministry is arguing for tough emissions standards, which the Economy Ministry says are too costly for industry, he added.
The standards will determine how much industrial companies must invest in new technology to limit air emissions. This is an especially sensitive topic because many of the industrial companies that would be affected are still state-owned and strapped for cash.
As a result of the government rift, officials responsible for environmental protection have been powerless to fight companies violating previously existing norms, Pawliotti said.
"There has been a hole for about half a year," Pawliotti said. "Somehow an oversight was made."
Not everyone believes the regulatory hole was simply an accident.
The initial draft of the Environmental Protection Act contained a clause stating that any new regulations left unwritten, when the act went into effect last January, would be governed by former regulations, said Waleria Skarlynska, an environmental lawyer at Baker & McKenzie. But that clause was deleted at the last minute, she added.
"Somebody, a tricky individual, removed this from the act," Skarlynska said. "As a result of this, everything has fallen into a gap."
While the Environment Ministry theoretically has until June to complete final regulations, the act's missing clause means that until the regulations are adopted there is no government control over industrial emissions, Skarlynska said.
"There's practically nothing the Environmental Protection Inspectorate is doing, no monitoring, no enforcement," Skarlynska said. "They haven't been fining anyone because they have no legal grounds to."
Current Deputy Environment Minister and former vice-chairman of the Sejm Environmental Protection Committee, Radoslaw Gawlik, denied that the clause was dropped on purpose.
"This was not intentional," Gawlik said, adding that the final act was passed during a period of electoral campaigns (August 29). "It was an omission."
And the GIOS's Miloszewski claims that despite the lack of legal restrictions on pollution, there have been no extraordinary violations reported to the ministry partly in thanks to the low profile the government has kept on this issue.
"Of course, we haven't advertised this very much," Miloszewski said. "We don't want all of the industries to know about it."
Even if Polish industry has not been caught taking advantage of the government's loss of control, government-sponsored organizations used to making industry more environmentally friendly will lose money from the mistake, Miloszewski said.
In 1997, GIOS collected more than zl. 250 million ($73.5 million) in fines from a range of industries, Miloszewski said. The top two violations were water and air pollution, he added.
"In terms of the fees for air, noise, and soil pollution, this touches on all sectors," Miloszewski said. "The whole system of environmental protection is suffering from this."
And with the state stuck in debate, local environmental controllers are finding their jobs tough, said Konrad Turzanski, environmental protection inspector for the Krakow voivodship.
"We can still collect environmental usage fees (determined by the voivodship)," Turzanski said. "But there are no fines because there are no limits" for emissions.
While a large number of high pollution industrial plants in the Krakow voivodship have long-term emissions norms and penalties outlined by the voivodship, up to 40% of the factories there operate according to state norms, Turzanski said.
In a highly industrialized area like Krakow, this leaves big industry unchecked, Turzanski said. Huta Sendzimira, which paid air pollution fines of zl. 17,000 (almost 25% of all the voivodship's air pollution fines) in 1997, is currently unregulated, he added.
"There have been no decisions made (regarding emissions levels) so why go there?" Turzanski said. "A decision from the ministry should come any day now. Then we'll go."
The Krakow voivodship collected zl. 6.6 million ($1.9 million) in total fines last year, he added.
But many other voivodships are unlikely to have an agreed list of long-term, high pollution enterprises like Krakow does, said Jan Piotrowski, head of the Legnica voivodship environmental protection inspectorate.
"We don't have a current list," Piotrowski said, adding that this means the voivodship can't control any plants there. "I expect that there are many voivodships around the country with the same situation."
Legnica voivodship is home to the largest air polluter in Poland, copper mine KGHM Polska Miedz, which paid zl. 23.6 million ($6.9 million) in fines for excessive air pollution in 1997, said Olga lukasiewicz, a specialist in the GIOS. The mining company ranked number two in terms of highest overall polluters for the year, she added.
"From (KGHM's) side there have been no excesses caused by a lack of legislation," Piotrowski said. "But our activities are seriously limited. The situation is unhealthy."
The Economy Ministry's Pawliotti said that a ministerial agreement on the secondary legislation could come this week.
A central focus of the Economy Ministry's argument is that the initial norms proposed by the Environment Ministry exceed those of the EU and are too costly for the almost entirely publicly owned energy sector, Pawliotti said.
"In our opinion these norms should not be much harsher than those in the European Union," Pawliotti said. "If a competitive edge is to be maintained, you can't have such a high cost."
The cost to the energy sector, based on an analysis of norms proposed by the Environment Ministry in April, is estimated at $5.3 billion, said Adam Gajda, a specialist in the environmental division of Polish Power Grid's (PSE) development department.
"In practice this is two times as much as we had the intention to go through with," Gajda said. "This would lead to the sector being pushed into debt."
