[Translation prepared by Business & Human Rights Resource Centre]

Aktobe Chromium Compounds Plant puts profit above the health of Aktobe residents, 21 August 2024

The public council of the Aktobe region considered the issue of air pollution by the Aktobe Chromium Compounds Plant. The public activists visited the plant, whose representatives constantly tell the media how they care about the environment. After visiting the plant, the public council had questions, which they asked the chairman of the board of JSC ACCP Aleksey KHIMCH at the meeting...

He was asked why the plant uses ordinary drinking water for its industrial needs to wash chrome. There is currently a shortage of drinking water in Aktobe, especially in the new residential districts of the city. Why the plant does not work to reduce the percentage of drinking water consumption for industrial needs, the chairman of the board of ACCP was asked.

- You understand that water is a raw material for our enterprise. And it cannot be replaced with other water. Purified tap water suits us in all respects...Understand, we work in the market...Our product quality is very high – 99.3 percent of the main substance content...And to obtain this product, we need clean water...We have our own water, the plant has wells, but the water quality is low, - answered Khimich.

Dissatisfied with this answer, activists advised Khimich to use filters to reuse water and thereby reduce drinking water consumption. Khimich went on the attack: such filters will lead to higher prices for products, and the plant cannot allow this...Therefore, Aktobe residents must endure...

Activists caught the plant representatives in a lie: they assured them that the plant had planted grass in the area of ​​the slag ponds and that the slag ponds had been insulated with concrete slabs.

- There turned out to be ordinary weeds there, which were blown there by the wind. There was no specially planted grass that we were told about...You tell us that for several years every year in the area of ​​the plant you plant about 300 trees, there should already be a whole forest there, if we believe you. We did not see anything like that, we did not even see 100 trees, - said the chairperson of the regional public council Tattigull TALAEVA.

Khimich admitted that it is not profitable to isolate the slag collectors with concrete slabs - it is more profitable to simply fill the collectors with earth. After all, in this case, later, in several decades, it will be easier to extract the waste...

A heated debate arose over emissions into the air from the plant's chimneys.

- You told us here that production has fallen, but why haven't you reduced your application for emissions next year? - members of the public council asked Khimich.

- Because tomorrow the market will open, military actions will end... - Khimich admitted...