As the environmental organization VIRUS reports, together with the municipality of Deutschlandsberg and the Koralm water association, it has filed a complaint against the negative EIA assessment decision on the Koralpe lithium mining project; the deadline for complaints ends today. Spokesman Wolfgang Rehm: “Together with our partners at the Jantschgi law firm, we have found numerous deficiencies in the decision from the state of Carinthia. After so much fanfare that has been made about this project, there can now be no cheating and an environmental impact assessment must be carried out.”
Particularly worrying are the findings of the official chemical expert that the project operator mentioned the use of dangerous auxiliary materials, in particular the toxic substance “hydrofluoric acid” which is subject to the Seveso regime. In the plant overview plan, parts of the plant are listed with “hydrogen fluoride scrubber”, “sulfuric acid”, “sodium hydroxide”. as well as “reagent storage”, “decontamination tanks” and there is a risk of contamination from such substances out of. There is a lack of a plausible account of the use and whereabouts of hazardous substances and the minimum requirements for technically sound assessments in the field of material flow management/chemistry are not met. Furthermore, a hydrogeological report has shown that there are concerns about impacts on drinking water supplies, particularly on the Styrian side. “If these are not significant environmental impacts within the scope of the merely required rough test, then I will eat a broom,” comments Rehm.
The lithium mining plans in Carinthia were ill-fated from the start. First squandered by the Republic for a shilling, then sold on at a high price, the mining rights finally ended up with an Australian mining company. As a result, the gold rush atmosphere in Carinthia and the expectations of numerous jobs covered up many concerns. Even Mining Minister Köstinger made herself important at the time. “It is not surprising that this has now given way to disillusionment. Ultimately, there is no longer any talk of further processing on site but rather this should take place in Saudi Arabia, which incidentally contradicts the EU regulation on ensuring a safe and sustainable supply of critical raw materials,” says Rehm. Furthermore, media reports appeared in which there was talk of speculation and the will to dismantle was questioned. The financial market supervisory authority has obviously repeatedly caught the operators’ radar and punished them. “We’ve been watching this for years because we don’t want the environment to be harmed during the supposed treasure hunt, that’s our job,” clarifies Rehm. The image of the rich uncle from Australia who came with his pockets full of money to do a big business here began to crack when it became clear that it was not a fully financed project but that money had to be collected or even funding was sought should. It fits into this picture that one also wants to avoid an environmental impact assessment. Surprisingly, after an extremely long review, the Carinthian state government complied with this request. “However, this was not the last word; with our complaints, the matter is now moving from the Carinthian sphere to the Federal Administrative Court and will be decided there,” concluded Rehm.
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