PPC hit with pollution fine

Inspectors find power company’s plants breach environmental rules

The Environment Ministry yesterday slapped a one-million-euro fine on the state-controlled Public Power Corporation (PPC) for excessive air pollution, the first penalty of its kind to be imposed on the power company.

Environment Minister Giorgos Souflias said that a team of inspectors found that

three power stations in northern and southern Greece failed to comply with environmental regulations.

Tests found sulfur dioxide and particle emissions from the lignite-powered stations to be above statutory levels.

“Climate change is a major global problem. Greece needs to be consistent regarding its obligations under the Kyoto Protocol,” the minister said.

“According to tests, it has been determined that 40 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in our country come from PPC,” he added.

Fines totaling 600,000 euros were imposed on PPC plants in Ptolemaida and Kozani in northern Greece for repeatedly exceeding health-mandated particle levels last year.

A further 400,000 euros was imposed on the Megalopolis plant in the Peloponnese, where sulfur dioxide emissions at two stations had repeatedly exceeded permitted daily levels.

The Environment Ministry has also forwarded the case file to a prosecutor to determine whether there is any criminal responsibility in what appears to be a crackdown on the country’s biggest polluter.

The Development Ministry, which oversees PPC, did not clarify what measures might be taken to enforce payment of the fine by the power company.

Environmentalists meanwhile welcomed the news and called for a more united government stance to help fight the country’s growing pollution problems.

“What is needed is a more consistent stance on the part of the Environment Ministry regarding the publication of such data. Normally this information on pollution should be made public straight away so that people can be better prepared,” the head of Greenpeace in Greece, Nikos Charalambidis, told Kathimerini.

The company responded by putting the blame on low-grade lignite and said that ongoing upgrades would reduce pollution from 2008 onward.

It also said that high demand for power along with a state ban on building new plants made it difficult for the company to do away with older facilities.