"Health-wise (the closure of Lafarge) was right, but damage was done, people have no work," an elderly pensioner, who identified himself as Edi, told AFP. Some locals have also deplored Lafarge's closure. Slovenian Economy Minister Zdravko Pocivalsek accused Macerl and his fellow campaigners of being "eco-terrorists" in a 2016 interview. In a statement to AFP, the company said the EU's decision had gone against the "expert decisions" made by Slovenia's environmental agency and government. Lafarge insists its plant had operated under the "most stringent" regulation and fully respected EU legislation. We have some 16 or 17 nests in our barn," Macerl said with a proud smile. but since (Lafarge's) production was halted, they've started coming. Macerl says there are now signs that nature is recovering, a process also helped by the coal-fired power station's closure in 2016. When the government failed to act upon Macerl's repeated complaints, he took his fight all the way to the top and filed a petition with the European Commission in 2010.Īfter a five-year legal battle, Lafarge was eventually forced to mothball its operations in March 2015 after Brussels ruled that Slovenia had run foul of EU rules regarding the plant's permits. Looking at the plans, Macerl realised that a tiny part of his farmland fell inside the so-called "pollution zone", entitling him to challenge the company's permit. The tide turned in 2009 when Lafarge applied for a new licence to incinerate car tyres and plastic. Local farmer Uros Macerl, recipient of the 2017 Goldman Environmental Prize, is seen as a role model to some, and an "eco-terrorist" to others "They boosted production to make as much profit as possible," said Macerl.Ī general view of the central Slovenian town of Trbovlje. The company intensified exploitation using petroleum coke-a dirty byproduct of oil refining that burns extremely hot-and industrial waste instead of coal. Things got worse in 2002 when Lafarge took over a 130-year old cement factory.
In winter, "the snow was always black" because dust and ashes would turn the white blanket into dark slush within 24 hours, Macerl recalled. but it also taught my children the struggle was worth it," the father of three told AFP.įor as long as Macerl could remember, heavy industry had not only been providing jobs to Trbovlje's 16,000 or so inhabitants, but also polluting its air.Įmissions from a glass factory and coal-fired power plant would slowly rise from the Central Sava valley, enveloping the farms on the surrounding hills in a toxic fog. In Macerl's case, the 13-year fight cost him his marriage. The 48-year-old flew to New York in late April to receive the US Goldman Prize, which honours "environmental heroes" for their efforts to protect nature, often at great personal expense. A role model to some, an "eco-terrorist" to others, Macerl recently picked up one of the world's most prestigious environmental awards for shutting down a cement plant owned by French corporation Lafarge in his home region of Trbovlje region in 2015.
0 kommentar(er)
