On February 7, an agreement will be made regarding the amount of the price that Cementarnica USJE will pay as a penalty for environmental air pollution. The amount of the fine can be up to 180.000 to 200.000 euros, and a fine of 10.000 euros is foreseen for the manager. USJE will pay the fine according to the misdemeanor report of the State Environmental Inspectorate. After the intervention of the DIŽS, the company immediately switched to heating from fuel oil to gas, acting according to the decision of the Inspectorate, from where they say for MIA that in such cases, according to the law, a misdemeanor report is foreseen, which, if the subject does not comply, is transferred to a criminal and to a procedure for license revocation.

Inspectors from the City of Skopje and from the DIŽS made extraordinary controls at USJE, during which they determined a large exceeding of the threshold of PM particles that cause ambient air pollution, for which the Mayor of the City of Skopje, Danela Arsovska, filed a criminal complaint.

At the press conference held on January 12, Arsovska stated that a large amount of pollution had been registered at the USJE Cement Plant, but did not provide specific details, after which the company immediately denied it, stressing that there were no deviations in the parameters related to the production process, but that it was registered exceedance in the steam boiler that was running on fuel oil during that period.

Namely, she indicated at the then press conference that the measurements were performed on two occasions, on December 26 and 27 last year and January 3 and 4 this year.

- On both occasions, huge excesses of the permitted discharge of gases and particles that pollute and impair the quality of the ambient air were measured. In particular, in the month of December last year, three times more PM10 particles were measured that were released into the atmosphere, and similar results were obtained during the measurement that was carried out at the beginning of this month. We are talking about the release of three times larger quantities than the permitted, per cubic meter every hour, the mayor emphasized at the time.

According to the measurements, instead of the permitted maximum of 50 micrograms per cubic meter, 121 micrograms per cubic meter were emitted from the chimney every hour. An increased emission of nitrogen oxides was also observed by at least twice, i.e. instead of the permitted 350 milligrams per cubic meter, 711 milligrams per cubic meter were emitted every hour.

After the filing of the criminal complaint and the information that came out to the public, we asked for a statement from the director of the Directorate of Internal Affairs Sreten Stojkovski, the Minister of Environment and Spatial Planning Nasser Nuredini, as well as from USJE Cement Plant.

Stojkovski emphasized for MIA that the Inspectorate acted in accordance with the law as in previous such cases, i.e. that a misdemeanor report was filed, which requires an agreement for a penalty of the third category, for which the monetary compensation is in the amount of 180.000 to 200.000 euros, as well as a fine for the manager from 10.000 euros. A decision was also issued for USJE, which stipulates that the company will stop using fuel oil for heating, that is, gas will be used again. He added that a settlement will be held on February 7 in order to determine the punishment.

- In Cementarnica USJE, they switched to gas heating. Measurements are underway on the two boilers used for heating and measurements are being made on all emission points in the Cemetery. So yes, the settlement is scheduled for next week, February 7, where a sanction of up to 200.000 euros is foreseen. At the settlement we will provide the documentation we have and the measurements. The company will present its arguments and the commission will make a decision regarding the amount of the fine for Cementara and the manager of the company. For the manager, the fine is 10.000 euros, said Stojkovski.

Regarding the criminal charge filed by Arsovska, Stojkovski indicated that he could not comment on the actions and statements of the mayor, but emphasized that according to the Law for that offense, until now, various legal entities have submitted a request for a settlement for a penalty of the third category, for which the sanction is ranging from 180.000 to 200.000 euros.

- They have to pay money and have obligations according to the decision issued by the state inspector for the environment, they have undertaken obligations that they have to act on, and if they do not act on them, we will initiate criminal proceedings and proceedings for revocation of the permit, emphasized the director of the DIJS.

He explained that in cases, such as the case with USJE, the settlement is first followed by the implementation of the solution, and if Cementara USJE causes such pollution again, criminal proceedings are initiated.

- First, criminal proceedings cannot be initiated where the law provides for an offense for the violation of the environment. Stojkovski added that it is precisely written for which offense what punishment follows.

Minister Nuredini, in a statement to MIA, decided that all installations that have an A Integrated permit must work within the framework of what is prescribed by it.

- All installations in the country must respect the laws and the permits they receive from our experts in the Ministry. If they use something that was not provided for in the permit, they should bear the consequences, stressed Nuredini.

He pointed out that since he came to office, he has been constantly talking about changing the heating method, that is, removing the fuel oil from use. He emphasized that it is the state's strategy.

The minister added that during his mandate, the Law on penalties for offenses related to ambient air pollution was also changed, that is, the amount of the penalty was increased. Previously, the highest fine for polluters was 90.000 euros, now it can reach up to 200.000 euros.

Nuredini pointed out that with the new Law on Industrial Emissions, all legal entities that hold an A - Integrated permit will be required to submit reports on hourly measurements of emissions.

From USJE for MIA, they emphasized that as a responsible company, they immediately implemented the recommendations of the DIJS.

The company indicated that the replacement of energy was made in the boiler room for heating the premises, where natural gas is used again.

- USJE works in accordance with the prescribed regulation and within those frameworks we will continue with the legally determined procedure for determining the conditions and in accordance with that acceptance of the measures that will result from it. Our company immediately implemented the measures ordered by the DIŽS, but the fact remains that many institutions and private entities in Skopje use fuel oil, and so far we have not been informed that they have been inspected, nor do we know what the effect of their operation is on the environment. Unfortunately, the whole situation was used for political purposes and we were accused of situations that are completely untrue and not related to our operations, USJE Cement pointed out.

From there, they emphasized that all activities in USJE take place under an independent 24-hour monitoring system from the German manufacturer SICK, which is calibrated and controlled by authorized independent external companies.

– This monitor continuously measures emissions, and there are no possibilities for any influences on it. Namely, it is known in the industry that the production process takes place in a strictly defined mode and cannot be influenced. This is confirmed by facts and scientific research and these aspects can be verified. Such checks confirm that the USJE does not contribute to the conditions of the ambient air in the capital with its work, emphasized the USJE.

The company said that due to the energy crisis and disrupted supply of natural gas, fuel oil was used to heat the premises from October last year.

– At the end of October 2022, immediately after the boiler was put into operation, at the request of USJE Cement Company, an accredited laboratory made control measurements of emissions in the air during the operation of the fuel oil boiler, and the results of the measurements were within the limit values ​​of emissions ( GVE). During the extraordinary control by the Inspectorate, at the steam boiler, which is not part of the production process and is exclusively intended for heating the rooms, a deviation was registered in one parameter of the measurements, during unstable operation of the boiler (temperature and gas flow). We want to emphasize that it is only about one parameter that is above the allowed limits, stressed USJE.

After all the events from Cementarnica USJE informs daily about the measured parameters.

Skopje has been facing a high threshold of ambient air pollution for years, especially in the winter period of the year. According to the authorities, one of the permanent solutions to the problem is a change in the heating method, that is, the construction of a gas pipeline.