A landslide of contaminated soil that threatens to contaminate water streams in Denmark has prompted the country’s government to consider strengthening environmental and company laws.
Environment Minister Magnus Heunicke said at a press conference on Friday that Danish authorities had mobilized 100 workers and 80 trucks to avert a “potential environmental disaster.”
The effort follows a landslide that began in December at a facility operated by Nordic Waste, which is moving about 3 million cubic meters of contaminated soil near the city of Landers at a rate of nearly 10 meters (32.8 feet) a day. It was carried out under the assumption that The soil treatment company that vacated the site filed for bankruptcy early Friday, and the soil movement will not stop on its own, Heunicke said.
“Landslides are constantly developing, so we must always be prepared to take new measures to ensure the safety of the public and avoid contamination of nearby water streams,” the minister said.
After Nordic Waste left, local authorities took charge of efforts to contain the soil in mid-December. The government will now take “all legal measures” possible to ensure those responsible for the pollution are held financially responsible for the cleanup.
“It’s a legal and moral principle that polluters are responsible for cleaning up and paying,” Heunicke said.
Nordic Waste’s largest shareholder, Torben Østergaard Nielsen, is the sixth richest person in Denmark, according to Okonomisk Ugebrev’s list of Denmark’s richest people last year.
Heunicke said the Danish government was prepared to review the company’s environmental permits and strengthen regulations to prevent similar incidents in the future. Justice Minister Peter Hummelgaard told the same news conference that the government would also consider changes to company law to ensure that companies cannot avoid paying for environmental cleanup costs by “simply declaring them bankrupt.”
Photo: Minister of the Environment Magnus Heunicke. Photo credit: Henrik Montgomery/AFP/Getty Images
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