US embassy cable - 04MADRID3864

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 MADRID 003864 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR OES/OA, OES/ENV, AND EUR/WE. 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SENV, SP 
SUBJECT: MADRID ENVIRONMENT TIDBITS 
 
REF: MADRID 3393 
 
1.  Madrid's ESTH Officer periodically groups together and 
reports ESTH developments that might otherwise "fall below 
the reporting bar."  Key issues will continue to be reported 
via "stand alone" cables.  ESTH Officer Ken Forder welcomes 
feedback at forderk@state.gov. 
 
2.  INDEX: 
 
A.  Prestige oil spill clean up winding down. 
B.  Regulatory regime concerning oil spill liabilities. 
C.  Ship bearing Spanish hazardous cargo "sinks" off Turkey. 
D.  Chemical Spill fouls Catalan river. 
E.  State-funded environmental watchdog group to be founded. 
F.  Madrid's "Green Patrol" hunts enviro-criminals. 
G.  Water prices to rise. 
 
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A.  PRESTIGE OIL SPILL CLEAN UP WINDING DOWN 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
3.  Vice President Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega 
announced that the extraction of the last remaining amounts 
of oil from the "Prestige," which sank off the Galician coast 
in November 2002 with 13,000 tons of crude oil aboard, was 
"practically completed."  As a result, de la Vega said the 
government would soon abolish the "Prestige Commission 
Office," which had handled the cleanup, and would replace it 
with a much cheaper permanent "Coordination Center."  The new 
center will direct a working group that will draft an 
"Integral Contingency Plan" which would be applied after any 
future similar disaster.  In July, the Government 
appropriated 249.5 million euros to pay for ongoing 
compensation claims related to the disaster.  The Government 
believes these funds should be sufficient to address the vast 
majority of outstanding compensation claims.  A cabinet 
document announcing the above measures acknowledged, however, 
that legal liability battles regarding the Prestige (e.g., a 
Spanish Government civil suit against ABS, the company that 
had certified the Prestige's seaworthiness) continue to rage 
in New York. 
 
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B.  REGULATORY REGIME CONCERNING OIL SPILL LIABILITIES 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
 
4.  The Spanish cabinet announced September 10 that several 
separate government regulations touching upon liability 
issues related to civil responsibility for damages caused by 
maritime oil spills would be unified under one Royal Decree 
Law.  These regulations, which date from the 1970s through 
the 1990s, were generally adopted to bring international 
instruments into force in Spain.  Spain presumably decided, 
in the aftermath of the Prestige disaster, that its civil 
liability interests would be better protected if these 
disparate regulations were harmonized under the rubric of a 
Royal Decree Law. 
 
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C.  SHIP BEARING SPANISH HAZARDOUS CARGO "SINKS" OFF TURKEY 
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5.  In a story too long and tangled to fully relate here, on 
September 6, a Saint Vincent-flagged, Turkish-owned vessel 
carrying toxic materials from Asturias, Spain to a 
construction project in Algeria, sank off the coast of 
Turkey.  The cargo was 3,500 metric tons of Spanish origin 
chromium ash that had been purchased by the French firm 
Lafarge in 1999 to use in a construction project in Algeria. 
When the ship arrived off Algeria in 1999, the ash was found 
to have been contaminated by water and Lafarge refused to 
take delivery.  The Spanish supplier did not want the cargo 
back, saying it now belonged to Larfarge.  The vessel thus 
went to Turkey, where local authorities refused to let it 
unload the cargo pending legal resolution of the case.  Spain 
finally agreed in 2004 to take the cargo back, at least 
temporarily.  Three days before the ship was to depart for 
Spain, it sank, reportedly with only 2,200 metric tons of the 
ash on board.  Sabotage is strongly suspected and it is 
presumed that the remaining 1,300 metric tons of ash were 
dumped either on the way from Algeria to Turkey or somewhere 
near the vessel's temporary berth in Turkey.  Turkish 
authorities have reportedly prohibited fishing within 200 
meters of the site and claim that the cargo has not yet begun 
to leak.  Following an official request from the Turkish 
Government, Spain's Environment Ministry dispatched two 
technicians to Turkey to help with clean up efforts.   EU 
Environment Commissioner Margot Wallstrom announced that the 
EU would not have jurisdiction in the case because "the 
contamination took place in a third (non EU) country." 
 
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D.  CHEMICAL SPILL FOULS CATALAN RIVER 
-------------------------------------- 
 
6.  A report prepared by Spain's National Science Research 
Council (CSIC) and the Autonomous University of Barcelona has 
accused the Spanish "Erkimia" chemical company of illegally 
dumping over 360,000 tons of toxic waste into the Ebro River. 
 The company denied the charge, noting that its discharges 
had been correctly treated in accordance with law.  The 
report said that an area of the Ebro equivalent to 10 city 
blocks had been fouled on its bottom and banks and that the 
waste was now also rising to the surface.  It also noted that 
as a result of Erkimia's discharges, the Flix reservoir had 
been contaminated with DDT, 18 tons of mercury, and 60 tons 
of other heavy metals.  The report said the waste was 
produced in the process of extracting phosphates from animal 
feeds imported from Morocco.  The Environment Ministry said 
clean up efforts would begin in 2005 and be finished by 2008. 
 The Environment Ministry also appeared to back Erkimia's 
claims that it had respected the law, noting that the crux of 
the problem was "long-standing" pollution levels rather than 
specific Erkimia actions.  The report accused the Catalan 
authorities of having been aware of the problem, without 
taking action, since 1996. 
 
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E.  STATE-FUNDED ENVIRONMENTAL WATCHDOG GROUP TO BE FOUNDED 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
 
7.  Environment Minister Cristina Narbona announced in August 
that the Government would soon create an independent, but 
state-financed, environmental watchdog group charged with 
producing an annual report evaluating the efficacy of the 
Government's environmental policies.  The report would be 
released sometime in the first three months of each calendar 
year, with the first report expected by March of 2005.  The 
group would include private sector experts, NGO 
representatives, scientists, university representatives, 
businessmen, and members of local and regional governments. 
Most financing would come from the Government, but it is 
hoped that civil society will also help pay the group's 
operating costs.  One of Narbona's top advisors said they 
were inspired by the EU's "spring report" evaluating the 
efficacy of the EU's environmental policies. 
 
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F.  MADRID'S "GREEN PATROL" HUNTS ENVIRO-CRIMINALS 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
8.  The Environmental Protection Unit of Madrid's municipal 
police, otherwise known as "the Green Patrol," reported that 
it filed charges in 110 cases during the course of 2003.  The 
unit, which has 89 members, noted that the total number of 
charges filed was lower than in previous years, attributing 
the reduction to greater public understanding of the need to 
protect the environment.  Combating noise pollution was one 
of the unit's greatest priorities.  The unit has installed 21 
decibel meters throughout the city and has trained 250 other 
officers in mediating noise-related disputes between 
neighbors.  It also stopped 1,254 persons in 2003 for driving 
vehicles whose noise levels exceeded the regulated norm. 
Most of these vehicles had had their mufflers illegally 
removed. 
 
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G.  WATER PRICES TO RISE 
------------------------ 
 
9. Environment Minister Cristina Narbona, hot on the heels of 
announcing the PSOE's new water management plan (Reftel), 
announced that the Spanish Government would gradually phase 
in a policy to have water prices reflect the cost of new (but 
not existing) water-related infrastructure.  The PSOE's water 
management plan, which emphasizes coastal desalinization 
plants over its predecessor's river diversion schemes, also 
puts greater emphasis on water conservation.  A gradual 
increase in water prices, in part to finance the new 
desalinization infrastructure (20 new plants and the 
modernization of many existing facilities), should help 
depress water demand, or at least lower its rate of increase. 
 By 2010, according to Narbona, water prices will reflect the 
full cost of new water-related infrastructure.  The 
opposition People's Party (PP) predictably attacked Narbona's 
announcement, noting that the PP's now defunct river 
diversion scheme included no provisions for increasing water 
prices. 
ARGYROS