DUSHANBE, September 16, 2011, Asia-Plus  -- Uzbekistan’s protest letter to the United Nations complaining of the environmental damage from Tajik aluminum smelter is absolutely unfounded, Bashir Souriyev, the head of Control Analysis Center at the Committee for Environmental Protection under the Government of Tajikistan said in an interview with Asia-Plus.

According to him, there was no any pollution of the atmosphere.  “The letter would have been founded if it had been sent by Uzbekistan’s governmental bodies but not local non-governmental organizations,” said Souriyev.  “All this is just a game.  As the saying goes, it is not a dirty ecology, it is a dirty policy.”

He noted that they regularly monitored levels of emission from the Tajik aluminum smelter.  “We monitor all emissions from the plant and I may say that the emission situation is normal,” Tajik environmental official stressed.

Acceptable level of average daily emission of the fluoride ion into the atmosphere is 0.005 milligram per cubic meter (mg/m3).  Souriyev noted that only two cases of excess emission of the fluoride into atmosphere had been reported -- in the first case, the daily emission of the fluoride ion into atmosphere was 0.006 mg/m3 and in the second case, it was 0.0065 mg/m3.  “Both these cases were registered before the 2000x, when the production volume was higher,” he noted.

We will recall that an appeal by residents of Uzbekistan’s Surkhondaryo region to the United Nations General Assembly was handed over by the Uzbek Environmental Movement (UEM) to the UNDP CO in Uzbekistan on September 6.

The appeal that was reportedly signed by more than 757,000 residents of the Surkhondaryo region, in particular, says that people have experienced the catastrophic effects of pollution of the environment by the aluminum smelter in the neighboring Tajikistan for thirty-five years.

According to the appeal, the enterprise discharges hazardous substances, including anhydrous hydrogen fluoride, into the atmosphere and these emissions pollute the air not only in Tajikistan but also in southern regions of Uzbekistan.  UEM claims the enterprise discharges up to 22,000 tons of hazardous substances, including 120 tons of anhydrous hydrogen fluoride, into the atmosphere.  The Tajik Aluminum Company has reportedly caused the environmental damage to Sariasiyo, Uzun, Denau, Altynsay, Shurchin and Kumkurgan districts in the Surkhondaryo region with the total population of more than 1.1 million.

In the meantime, TALCO has rejected allegations by the Uzbek Environmental Movement that its plant caused serious environmental damage to Uzbek regions.

Igor Sattarov, a spokesman for TALCO, says the TALCO management has repeatedly applied to Uzbek environmentalists proposing to carry out examination but they have refused.  “This debate is highly politicized, otherwise the Uzbek would have agreed to take joint measurements,” Sattarov noted. 

We will recall that the Uzbek Environmental Movement, which has 15 seats in the Uzbek parliament, said in March 2010 that it has calculated the environmental damage from Talco to Uzbekistan''s Surkhondaryo region on the basis of research by Uzbek scientists.  It claimed Talco is responsible for some $228 million in damage to four districts in the region.

TALCO, however, denied that statement as unfounded.  TALCO top managers noted that they paid proper attention to investment in environment-friendly technology and implementation of environmental projects.