Brussels, 31/10/2000 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has drawn up the priority measures it intends to implement to guarantee the safety of mining activities, to avoid the repeat in the European Union of accidents like the one in April 1998 that polluted the Donana natural park (a mining accident in Aznacollar, Spain) with mud and acid waters and the accident of last January that caused cyanide pollution throughout the Danube region (the mining accident in Baia Mare, Romania, an applicant for EU accession). In a communication entitled "Safe Operation of Mining Activities: A Follow-up to Recent Mining Accidents", the Commission reviews accidents of this kind worldwide -with particular emphasis on the Aznacollar and Baia Mare accidents-, describes the immediate follow-up activities, particularly the creation of the international Baia Mare Task Force it chairs, presents what it sees as the most likely causes of the cyanide spill and the lessons to be learnt in terms of the improvement of Community legislation, but does not anticipate the conclusions the Task Force will be presenting at the end of the year. "The Commission wishes to speed up this work by identifying the sectors of priority action for improving mine safety. The communication will serve as a contribution to the work of the international Baia Mare Task Force", observed Environment Commissioner Margot Wallström in a press release. Flaws in the design and construction of dams, a common denominator in all the accidents reviewed, ineffective authorisation procedures and insufficient capacity for supervising regulatory and technical aspects in Romania convince the Commission of the necessity of re-examining Community environment policy, particularly with a view to enlargement of the Union to "countries where there is reason to fear that other existing facilities in a whole range of industrial sectors are insufficiently regulated and, in their present state, might present dangers to health and the environment".
Below is a summary of the priority initiatives the Commission will be preparing in close cooperation with the applicant countries:
Modification of the classification of dangerous waste to include mining waste in the list of hazardous waste (talks under way with Member State experts are expected to lead to the first conclusions in the second half of 2000).
Amendment of the Seveso II directive (96/62/CE) on control of the dangers related to major accidents involving dangerous substances, to include mineral processing of ores, and in particular tailings ponds or dams used in connection with such processing. Industrial operators would be obliged to put safety management systems into effect, including a detailed risk assessment on the basis of possible accident scenarios (proposal foreseen by mid-2001).
Completion before end 2001 of the study in progress on existing legislation and practices concerning the management of waste from the extractive industry in the Union and in applicant countries to determine whether a specific draft directive should be prepared on the management of mining waste, taking account of site-specificity and extractive industry sub-sectors.
Development of a reference document on best available technologies, for enterprises and the competent authorities in the Member States who issue permits under the IPPC directive (Directive 96/61/EEC on the prevention and reduction of pollution), to help reduce everyday pollution and prevent accidents in the non-ferrous metals mining sector.
The Commission also notes the necessity of adopting measures pertaining to tailings ponds to prevent any major spills of pollutants from technical installations and to reduce the effects of accidental pollution, as well as detection or alert systems for situations of this type, as foreseen by the framework directive on water adopted recently by the Council and Parliament. The creation of a Community mechanism for the coordination of emergency civil protection interventions, already proposed by the Commission, should help improve early warning systems.
With its presentation of this action plan, the Commission is keeping the promise it made in its communication of 3 May 2000 on the promotion of sustainable development in the non-energy extractive industry in the Union.