Chemical waste piled in open air near Aktau

More than 100 thousand tons of chemical waste is piled in the open air near Aktau in western Kazakhstan, Lada reports. The Ecology Department of Mangystau Oblast ran an unscheduled inspection at the KazAzot in 2012. The inspection discovered more than 96 thousand tons of pyritic sulphur chemical waste and more than 400 thousand tons of sulphur at the territory where the sulfate plant used to be. The sulfate plant belongs to KazAzot company. An order was issued to the company to clean the territory of the former plant from the chemical waste. But according to the local Ecology Department, KazAzot did nothing. On July 3 the Ecology Department filed a suit over the company's failure to execute the order, demanding that the company is subject to compulsory execution of the obligations. The court satisfied the departments claim. However, it is reported that the company objects to having to deal with the wastes that were accumulated during the soviet period and still remain at that territory since then. KazAzot filed an appeal against court ruling on September 30. In the meantime, while the legal proceedings drag on, the harmful wastes are still lying in the open air near several villages of Mangisatu Oblast and not far from Aktau city. Strong winds are picking them up with the dust and carrying them around, making the territory harmed by the wasters even larger. Besides, access the sulfate plant territory is not guarded.