Not recently, but for nearly ten years, people in Phuc Thuan ward have had to live near the incinerators of Viet Xuan Moi Environmental Joint Stock Company, operated in 2016 and Thai Nguyen Environmental Joint Stock Company, operated in 2018.
Viet Xuan Moi Environment Joint Stock Company is continuing to invest in expanding and building a number of waste-to-energy and hazardous waste incinerators.
Since these two companies have been operating, people have gathered many times in front of the factory gates and the headquarters of the People's Committees of communes and wards to dialogue and request clarification of environmental issues.
The conflict is that the government and companies all say they are not polluted, but the people are still surrounded by stench and smoke all day and night.
According to Mr. Duong Van Dien - Chairman of Phuc Thuan Ward People's Committee, local authorities have organized dialogues and directly gone to factories to grasp the situation. But the difficulty is the lack of equipment and limited functions and tasks.
The ward does not have a machine to measure, and it cannot be measured because this requires expertise. This case is beyond the reach of the ward, the province must intervene.
People complained of being surrounded by odor and dust, but at the meeting on July 9, representatives of the Environmental Monitoring Center and the Department of Environmental Protection of Thai Nguyen province said that the environmental records of the two companies were complete according to regulations, the monitoring results both met the standards of permitted environmental indicators, and there were no signs of abnormality.
People do not believe in this result, because the environmental pollution in this area is real, not fabricated by the people.
People do not believe it because in July 2023, the Inspectorate of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment fined Thai Nguyen Environment Joint Stock Company 954.7 million VND for discharging wastewater and emissions exceeding the permitted standards. At the same time, this company was also suspended from operation of 2 domestic solid waste incinerators for a period of 4.5 months.
Since then, the stench and smoke have continued to attack people, making it impossible to "reach the standards of permitted environmental indicators".
Therefore, there needs to be another monitoring agency, ensuring more objectivity.
Regarding this, the Department of Environmental Protection - Department of Agriculture and Environment of Thai Nguyen province has coordinated with the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment to conduct an inspection, collect water and emissions samples at the waste treatment area of Phuc Thuan ward for analysis.
The leaders of Thai Nguyen province must resolve the issue, ensure fairness, protect people's health but also protect business activities of enterprises.
If the indicators meet the permitted standards, people should not continue to file lawsuits, causing difficulties for the government and businesses.
If it causes pollution, it must be punished and businesses must overcome it.
