- The Environment Minister of the Basque Government has explained to the Basque Parliament that the incinerator does not have an automatic system to prevent further burning of waste when the level of pollution is high. In addition, Arantxa Tapia states that the discharges of Arkaitzerreka have caused pollution.
Arantxa Tapia, Environment Minister of the Basque Government, asked about the breaches and irregularities that are taking place in the incinerator of Zubieta, Miren Gorrotxategi, a IU parliamentarian, who has recognised that the incinerator does not have automatic systems that prevent further dumping of waste in the furnace when the concentration of particulates exceeds the permitted 3 (150mg/nm3).
According to the information published by Naiz.eus, Tapia has come in response to what the GHK said at the time: "As for emissions into the atmosphere, there is no control that acts automatically in combustion," he explains. He adds that no waste is "totally" in the hands of a worker. This worker will receive a "pre-alert" warning that he will overcome the pollution level of the discharges.
For its part, Tapia says it is "absolutely false" that the Zubieta incinerator received an integrated environmental authorisation without fulfilling all the requirements.
Concerning the many discharges in Arkaitzerreka, the Vice-Advisor acknowledges that "excessive values" of ammonium and other pollutants have been collected and recalls that URA has opened a dossier of fines to the GHK.
Naiz.eus underlines that Tapia speaks of an "August" spill, but then he has also given data from July. In fact, according to this newspaper, the Department of the Environment has reports that stream contamination came from at least December 2019, when the incinerator was launched.