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Nabarralde | Nabarra Papers
4.8
Million Tons of Hazardous Material
Transported Annually in Four Basque
Territories
By Mila Parot
Zubimendi.
Hazardous materials
in various forms can cause death, serious injury, long-lasting
health effects, and damage to buildings, homes, and other property.
A hazardous materials accident can occur anywhere. Communities
located near chemical manufacturing plants are particularly
at risk. However, hazardous materials are transported on our
roadways, railways and waterways daily, so any area is considered
vulnerable to an accident.
Studies conducted
by the regional administrations of Nabarra
and Baskongadak (Araba, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa) revealed that
4.8 million tons of hazardous material was transported in the
four Basque provinces in Spain in 1998.
The study by
the Civil Protection Commission of Nabarra claims that, with
the exception of a recent release of toxic gas in Altsasu, no
major accidents in the chemical industry occurred.
The study conducted
by the Emergency Department of the regional government of Baskongadak
reports that 144 chemical accidents occurred last year in the
provinces of Araba, Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa. The official document
claims that 95 percent of the accidents had no major consecuences.
Regulations
for the transportation and storage of hazardous material in
the European community stipulate the type of packaging that
must be used, the labelling of the package, and allowable modes
of transport. Generally, the higher the hazard associated with
the material, the more stringent the transportation and storage
requirements -- e.g. packages must be able to withstand conditions
such as drop tests from various heights, fire tests, leak test,
immersion tests, without releasing the hazardous contents. "Conventional"
transportation regulations also apply in many cases, such as
road weight limits.
Although the
two Basque administrations claim to have some emergency plans
for the control of major-accident hazards involving dangerous
substances, no major-accident prevention policy has been established
in either region.
Such a policy
would include requirements relating to safety management systems,
emergency planning, land-use planning, and inspections to be
carried out by the administration. The provisions broadly fall
into two main categories: control measures aimed at the prevention
of major accidents and control measures aimed at the limitation
of consequences of major accidents.
One of the
main objectives pursued by major-accident prevention policy
is to prevent or reduce accidents caused by management factors
which have proven to be a significant causative factor in over
90 percent of the accidents in the European Union since 1982.
Internal emergency
plans for response measures to be taken inside establishments
have to be drawn up by the operator of an establishment and
to be supplied to the local authorities to enable them to draw
up external emergency plans. Emergency plans have to be reviewed,
revised and updated, where necessary. Important new elements
require operators to consult with their personnel on internal
emergency plans and on the local authorities to consult with
the public on external emergency plans.
Modifications
to existing establishments and new developments such as transport
links, locations frequented by the public and residential areas
in the vicinity of existing establishments are required. In
the long term, land-use planning policies ought to ensure that
appropriate distances between hazardous establishments and residential
areas are maintained.
A major-accident
prevention policy would give more rights to the public in terms
of access to information as well as in terms of consultation.
Operators as well as public authorities have certain obligations
to inform the public. Whereas passive information means permanent
availability of information i.e. that this information can be
requested by the public, active information means that operators
or competent authorities themselves need to be pro-active, for
example through the distribution of leaflets or brochures informing
the public about the behaviour in the case of an accident.
The most important
new element is that competent authorities would be obliged to
organize an inspection system which can either consist of a
systematic appraisal of each establishment or of at least one
on-site inspection per year.
A coherent
implementation and consistent application of a major-accident
prevention policy throughout Nabarra (residual Nabarra, Baskongadak,
and the three territories under French administration--Behe-Nafarroa,
Lapurdi and Zuberoa) requires coooperation of the competent
authorities at both regional and local level. A good way to
start coooperation at the local level is the recently created
National Basque Assembly which consists of representatives from
the local governments. This is about taking responsibility for
the nation we're trying to re-build.
August 1999
Mila Parot
Zubimendi is a law student and free-lance writer.
She's currently living in Miarritze.
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