COUNTIES IN THE OWNER: PRAHOVA III. We now arrive in Ploiești, an extremely polluted place, run by people who have fully demonstrated their helplessness and incompetence.
For example, a full list of projects that could have developed the city was sent to a non-existent fax number and funding was missed. And this is just a minor example of how things are here.
Alex Dima: “Ploiești is one of the most polluted places in Romania. In and around the city there are industrial giants and individuals who have businesses here, people who have simply mastered the air that people breathe and live here. ”
From the moment you get close to Ploiești, regardless of the area, it smells. Around the city there are three large refineries, unpolluted oil battles, the largest hazardous waste incinerator in Romania, and between the blocks, a detergent factory and many other factories, sources of pollution.
A report by the National Institutes of Health points out that the incidence of serious diseases is higher in this place than in the rest of the country. In the county, in 2016, the incidence rate due to leukemia increased 3 times compared to previous years. Everyone knows that pollution is at an alarming rate, but for 30 years, state authorities and institutions have not been able to stop polluters because it is not clear who is polluting.
Florin Diaconu is the director of the Prahova Environment Agency. Only now is he saying that he is working on a study to see clearly who is making the population sick.
Florin Diaconu, director of APM Prahova:
"-Do you, as a resident of Ploiești, have any fears?
-I work for the Environment Agency ... do we have Sanepid, are you talking about the disease?
-You. personal.
-I've been living here personally for 30 years. And one is as a resident and the other as a director. As a director I did ... ”
But the result is not seen. Moara Nouă, a locality located near Ploiești, separated only by a road from the Petrotel Lukoil refinery. Everything is polluted. And the air and the soil and the water.
I knocked on the door of the refinery and I was received by Dana Dănulescu, communications director, and Duca Gheroghe, head of the ecology department. I claim that the refinery has invested many millions of euros in equipment, that it monitors through pollution stations and they are within legal limits.
Duke Gheroghe, head of refinery ecology:
"-Is it possible that there are substances in the air that the measuring stations do not perceive?
-Of course. The monitoring station has dedicated sensors for a specific pollutant. You realize that there are thousands of components in crude oil. You can't make a station that measures all your pollutants.
-Is it possible that the station does not notice a certain product that is in the air, but that people feel and affect?
-Basically yes."
Together we went to the monitoring station in Moara Nouă. Here is the smell. The substances detected by the station are within limits.
The mayor of Ploiești sees from the office how polluted the city is.
Adrian Dobre, mayor of Ploiești: “The substances that cause this olfactory discomfort are not known. There is no limit to the level at which they should be emitted into the atmosphere, there is absolutely nothing. "
Representatives of the Vega-Rompetrol refinery claim that they have invested millions in greening and have plans to clean up the battles in the area. Representatives of the OMV refinery also say they have taken action. And their emissions are in legal parameters.
The refinery operates near the town of Brazi, about which the study of the Institute of Health draws attention to the fact that serious diseases in the area are on the rise. In Brazi there is a pollution measuring station and a panel from which the citizens should find out how polluted the area is. The panel is not working. Leonaș Radu is the mayor of the place.
Leonaș Radu, mayor of Brazi:
"-We can only observe the nuisances that are on the three monitors from Brazi commune. There's one, there's a monitor, all the information is sent to the Environmental Guard and the Guard informs us.
-Why is not it working?
"Ask the Environmental Guard."
Even during the discussion, the station reported pollution in the area. The mayor is healthy and does not care what happens to the rest of the population.
Dan Rădulescu, Prahova deputy: “Benzene pollution is very serious. Benzene affects, it is primarily a potent carcinogen. The effects are long-term. He's a silent killer. "
Dan Rădulescu is a deputy from Prahova. In 3 years, he has made more than 200 inquiries on pollution in the area.
Dan Rădulescu, Prahova deputy: “For 2018, out of 365 days, in 275, the maximum concentrations for benzene and 13 butadene were exceeded. Both extremely carcinogenic. The authorities show a complicity synonymous with madness if we stop to think. Fines for major polluters are minimal. "
He introduced bills to force polluters to stop working when they break down. To increase the fines that are now extremely low for industrial giants.
Former Minister of the Environment, Grațiela Gavrilescu, Prahova MP, shrugs:
"-There is a law in Parliament, in which I am also the initiator, the law of odors, which is being debated in the Senate, is kept in the drawer ...
-At the moment, are you satisfied with the result of these steps?
-Not. Because they are not finished. I left the government. I'm really sorry."
Gavrilescu responded for years to the Environment, during which time the county that sent her to Parliament became a real landfill.
The largest hazardous waste incinerator in Romania has been operating between Ploiești and Brazi for years, opened by Radu Oprea - current senator from Prahova, former minister in the Dancilă government and a relative of the Cosma family -, together with Mihai Ștefănescu, called Treflă, the godfather Andreea Cosma.
The local press has been writing about the huge pollution here, about the piles of hazardous waste dumped in vain, but no one has taken any action. The incinerator operates on the land of the County Council.
At the beginning of the year, the Minister of Environment, Costel Alexe, came to control and only then did the Environmental Guard wake up and impose measures.
Senator Oprea, a subscriber to state works when he was an official partner with Ștefănescu, says he has no idea what is happening in the incinerator he opened.
Radu Oprea, Senator Prahova:
"I was a shareholder and administrator until 2012 when I left.
-Don't you keep in touch with former shareholders?
-Not. It seems to me that it is a gesture of maximum social irresponsibility.
-After seeing this gesture of utmost irresponsibility, did you somehow get in touch with the former shareholders to see what is happening there?
-Not."
At the end of 2018, for days on end, firefighters struggled to put out a huge fire in which they burned over 5,000 tons of waste belonging to the group of companies of which the Stefanescu family is a part. No one was held accountable.
Andrei Dan lives in Brazi. He is one of those who talked about the pollution here and what is going on in the incinerator. The incinerator chiefs threatened to sue them for ruining their image.
Pollution monitoring is done by the Environment Agency, an institution with 162 employees. The director is relaxed. In the rare moments when the agency reports pollution, it urgently contacts the Public Health Directorate. Dan Ioniță is the director of the department.
Dan Ioniță, director of the Prahova Public Health Directorate:
"-What direction can it take to protect its citizens?
-When the Environmental Agency notifies us that there are exceedances, the Directorate sends to the Agency the prevention measures to the population and the dangers, and those there put them, so to speak, in implementation.
-They signal to you, we have an increase on X, for this problem you have to do this. What do they have to do?
-You need to inform the population. It's legal.
-And how do you inform?
-I don't know how the Environment Agency informs the population. We send to the Environment Agency, further ask your colleagues there.
-Does the things you ask to be applied happen?
-I'm sorry, I didn't check this.
-Do you have a strategy as a director?
"I don't have a strategy so far."
The European Union demands that every citizen be given 26 meters of green space. A resident of Ploiești benefited in 2016 from only 3.8 square meters. In order to increase the percentage of green space and to do well in the eyes of Europeans, Ploiești City Hall has invested 80 million lei in a 54-hectare field on the outskirts of the city. The money should have come from European funds, but because the authorities moved hard, lost funding and had to pay, and because in the Local Council, the PSD fought with the PNL, the mayor's office was not able to irrigate the place and the park has dried up.
Deputy Mayor Cristian Ganea proudly presents the park. I showed it to "Romania, I love you!" in 2017 and the mockery here. Ganea is still deputy mayor.
Alex Dima: "According to the mayor and deputy prime minister, it should be a real forest. But it's like a slap in the face. There's a tree over there. Not to mention the forest or the forest curtain, which would protect the city from pollution ... They did nothing. "
The mayor is a PNL member, the deputy mayor is a PSD member. I'm with knives. In their struggle for power, they have done nothing for the city, which remains gray and polluted.
We asked to film at least in a place where European funds are invested. It doesn't exist in the whole city. They just have plans. In addition, a lot of money was lost and many projects that could have changed the face of the city failed because the mayor's office sent the funding request elsewhere. A really hilarious situation!
Cristian Ganea, Deputy Mayor of Ploiești:
"-That list in which we passed the possibility of investments reached elsewhere, too late and by fax to a number that does not exist.
-Who was to blame for this story?
-I call it collective guilt.
-So no one was held accountable?
-Not."
Adrian Dobre, mayor of Ploiești: "I am easily surprised by the attitude of this deputy mayor, because he is the one who coordinates and coordinated the activity and the investment department."
Ploiești also missed 10 electric buses because the city does not have an air quality plan. Another story to work on. That is, the papers move from one institution to another.
Alex Dima: “Ploiești sewage treatment plant. This is what the mess that comes out of it and reaches the Teleajan River looks like. Outrageous is the fact that here, since 2010, there had to be a sewage treatment plant that was built, but which does not work ... ”
20 million euros have been invested in the station, which is more than 80 percent built. Work stalled in 2013 and all equipment was removed from warranty and damaged. 2,000 cubic meters of manure per hour now pass through the old station, which is completely obsolete.
Raul Petrescu is the director of the Water Authority. He also deals with the air quality plan in the city. He has no idea about the mess coming out of the old station.
Over 80 percent of the dirt goes on the Teleajen River, in Ialomița and, later, in the Danube. The mayor's office is in process with the company that built the station.
I showed pictures of the Environmental Guard.
Gabriela Munteanu, Chief Commissioner of the Prahova Environmental Guard:
„-Have you ever been to the treatment plant in Ploiești?
-No, I wasn't there.
-This is how it looks. Evacuation from the Ploiești municipal wastewater treatment plant.
-I couldn't give you details on this subject because I didn't do a check there.
-Didn't the Environmental Guard check at the station there?
-I have not been there. So I don't know about this situation, I was not notified by anyone and I didn't get there. "
Romanian waters know the situation, but more recently, our laws allow such a disaster to happen. I also tried a discussion on this topic with the former Minister of Environment, Grațiela Leocadia Gavrilescu.
Grațiela Gavrilescu, former Minister of Environment: “I don't know what happened in the period after we left the government. But it is from my point of view a total lack of indolence of the Ploiești City Hall. I had to ... lack of indolence ... yes. Because they didn't go down the drain to see what the problems were. "
Empty words, passing responsibility from one to another, total lack of responsibility. It is the recipe by which a huge army of officials and politicians have managed to stay in position for decades and lead this county that has a huge economic and tourist potential. They are joined by businessmen, individuals who do not obey any law. Together they form a cohort that has taken over the county, caught up in a chorus and fight only for their interests, to stay in power and to escape punishment. The local people can only get rid of them if they go to the polls, if they understand what they are voting for and if they demand and defend their rights. Otherwise, the same people will remain to rule a rich county which, however, dies every day little by little, suffocated and dirty.
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