Villagers push PPC over smog
Residents of villages near two of the country’s worst polluting power plants in Kozani, northern Greece, yesterday revived protests about the alleged health risk posed by the sites after the government slapped a one-million-euro fine on the Public Power Corporation (PPC) for their operation. Residents, who blocked conveyor belts carrying lignite to the plants, said they felt vindicated by the government’s action against PPC but insisted that more had to be done. Public services and schools remained closed yesterday. «Our protests will continue unless you limit your operations and start respecting the environment,» they said in a message to PPC. PPC has pledged to install new filters at local power stations by next spring. «Local pollution levels are out of control,» a spokes-man for the protesters, Andreas Athanassiadis, said. «We want measures that will offer our children a better future,» he said. A study by Thessaloniki’s Aristotle University shows local children inhale the equivalent in pollution of 20 cigarettes a day.
