Only One Article of the Law Against Eco-Polluters

Although there are no real records, it is significant that even immediate neighbors of large polluters do not usually turn to the courts.

Only when the City of Sisak filed a lawsuit against INA’s Oil Refinery for environmental pollution did the Government adopt measures that could help resolve the case. Everyone else is left to dispute with polluters in long and expensive court proceedings.

Written by: Prof. Dr. Hrvoje Kačer

How significant the ecological problem in Sisak is became clear to the Croatian public only when the City of Sisak initiated legal proceedings against responsible individuals in the INA d.d. Zagreb system for environmental pollution. Due to unpleasant odors caused by the emission of hydrogen sulfide from the Oil Refinery and increased concentrations of benzene at the measuring station near the Refinery and the Thermal Power Plant in the Sisak Caprag settlement, an initiative was launched in Sisak to establish an Association of Cancer Patients, a petition against pollution is being signed, and the establishment of a new ecological association is in preparation. Protests have also been announced in front of the Refinery, Thermal Power Plant, and Herbosa, as possible environmental polluters, because these factories have their own waste incinerators. According to data from the Sisak City Administration, air quality in Sisak in 2006 was rated as category III concerning carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide, and category II concerning particulate matter and benzene.

The problems in Sisak are just the latest eco-catastrophes that citizens in Croatia have to deal with as best they can. The story with the asbestos factory in Solin has not yet been concluded, the oil spill in Kaštela this summer jeopardized the tourist season, the large cement factory in Kaštela (Dalmacijacement) continues to emit black smoke, many people living near quarries complain about blasting, countless yachts dump their garbage into the sea, unofficial waste dumps are growing, and news about fish kills in rivers or the sea appears every now and then… The question arises as to what an individual can do outside of a classic report to some inspection or police and whether what they can do is effective and, above all, whether the state, or the legislator, wants effective environmental protection with the activities of all those it concerns? Must things go so far that one city has to file a lawsuit against a company, and must the Government ultimately intervene to get things moving from a standstill? Because the Government will react when big issues are at stake, but what about the smaller ones?

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