Both the Government and the City Hall of Vitoria-Gasteiz have refused to give further details on the reasons for the dossier, as Alea explained. The Government has formally requested the Alavese media, “under the right to information transparency in environmental matters”, but the Government has argued that information on current sanctioning dossiers can only be received by “interested” persons in the matter. As for the City Hall, the Department of the Environment has confined itself to confirming the opening of the sanctioning dossier.

The starting point of the sanction is in the last government inspection to landfill in December 2022, as Alea explained. In this inspection, the landfill received the “lowest” assessment of the “environmental authorisation requirements”.

Second penalty file after 2018

The second dossier of sanctions opened to the Gardelegi landfill within five years is the one communicated today by the Algerian media. In June 2018, the URA agency opened the file, accusing it that the accumulated lindane in the landfill was first extended to the sewer of Vitoria and the sewers to the river Zadorra. The City Council announced in 2019 measures to prevent the dumping of lindane, but at the moment it cannot be known whether these measures have been effective or whether the second dossier of sanctions is related to these problems, Alea stressed.