The Ministry of Environmental Protection is forcing businesses to close, - "Ukrmetalurgprom"
Due to the head of the Ministry of Ecology Roman Abramovsky, Ukrainian industry is hanging in anticipation of collapse. If the department does not extend the validity period of technical standards for harmful emissions, which expired at the end of last year, the country will face a large-scale crisis and closure of enterprises.
This was stated by the head of the "Ukrmetallurgprom" association Oleksandr Kalenkov.
As is known, in December 2020, the validity period of Technological Standards (TS) expired, which establish permissible emissions of pollutants from equipment (installations) for firing and agglomeration of metal ore (including sulfide ore), and from coke ovens.
By this time, deputies were supposed to develop a new guide to technical standards based on European directives - because, according to Kalenkov, there are currently certain emission standards in the TS that are purely Ukrainian inventions.
"Standards for some types of emissions are generally Ukrainian know-how! In Europe, there is no standardization of some values that are in these standards," explains the expert.
Due to the lack of new guides to technical standards, enterprises cannot properly plan investment projects for environmental modernization. Moreover: currently, companies simply do not have money to implement large-scale environmental projects, explains Kalenkov.
"Our industry (metallurgical - ed.) has been in a permanent crisis, probably since 2014. In 2019, I remind you, metallurgists ended with losses of 32 billion hryvnias. The next year, 2020, was the situation with COVID and lockdowns. In such conditions, delays in the implementation of investment plans are absolutely understandable. And it is absolutely clear why the prime minister stated back in the spring of last year that the investment environmental obligations of enterprises should be reviewed in connection with the new reality that currently exists in Ukraine and the world," says Kalenkov.
But, according to him, the Ministry of Ecology refused to listen to the Cabinet of Ministers. They still have not signed the order extending the validity period of technical emission standards, and enterprises receive several additional years for eco-modernization.
"We hoped that the document (signed in the Ministry of Ecology - ed.) would be released at the end of the year. According to my information, various ministries and departments have agreed on everything. But now the document is in the ministry. Nothing prevents the minister from signing this order," Kalenkov wonders.
According to the head of the Association, metallurgical enterprises "are literally fighting for every working day."
"Now they are forced to actually exist outside the legal framework. This is an abnormal situation! The fact that the necessary order has not been adopted, and the terms for implementing investment programs have not been shifted by 3-4 years, as is justified from the point of view of economic logic, will lead to the closure of most coke-chemical enterprises. Because enterprises do not have money to implement environmental projects," the expert said and expressed hope that the necessary project will be signed within a few days.
We remind you that the Verkhovna Rada is considering draft law No. 4167-1 "On preventing, reducing and controlling industrial pollution".
After its adoption, BAT (Best Available Techniques) reference documents - best available technologies and management methods that comply with European directives - must be developed. But new projects were not adopted in the Rada, and old ones are no longer working. Thus, a legal vacuum arose, in which Ukrainian industry is suspended.
Well-known Ukrainian scientists undertook to change the situation: they developed a package of documents to amend technological regulations. These changes will allow extending their validity periods and the implementation of eco-modernization projects until the legislative field is regulated.