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Julius Dargis, director of Rapsoila, a company operating in the village of Ukrinų, Mažeikiai district, confirmed to BNS that investigative actions had been carried out at the company.
“The investigation is ongoing, it has been inspected, but I cannot comment further,” said the director of the company.
According to the department, environmentalists and police officers from Šiauliai County searched the company on Wednesday. During them, the company’s wastewater treatment system and equipment was evaluated, wastewater samples and relevant documents for the study were taken.
It is estimated that the company was engaged in the production of fatty acid methyl ester extracted from wastewater discharged from rapeseed to the environment during 2018 and 2019. The total amount of raw wastewater discharged would be equivalent to 300 train tanks.
“The attention of the specialists of the Department of Environmental Protection and the job well done allowed to gather enough evidence about possible environmental contamination. We hope that the damage caused to the environment by the company will be cleared up in cooperation with law enforcement, ”quotes Olga Vėbrienė, director of the Department of Environmental Protection.
According to the department, the non-compliance of the extracted groundwater and wastewater was determined by environmentalists during an unscheduled inspection carried out in September last year.
“The company explained this fact that the amount of wastewater generated is determined by the biodiesel production capacity, as well as by the quality indicators of the raw materials used, and the water is not used in production. As a result, fluctuations in the amount of wastewater generated do not match the amount of groundwater extracted, ”environmentalists say.
Continuing with the investigation and analyzing the data, it was assumed that during 2018 and 2019, the company discharged raw wastewater through the outlet specified in the Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control Permit without operating the industrial or domestic wastewater treatment plant. .
According to environmentalists, the company managed to release almost 12,2 thousand. cubic meters of production and more than 6.6 thousand. cubic meters of household waste. Also, the company may not have paid about $ 80,000. taxes in euros.
After collecting data and assessing the circumstances, AAD officials turned to the police last year, who launched a pre-trial investigation into a systematic violation of environmental regulations that could have caused significant harm.
The pre-trial investigation is led by the Šiauliai Regional Prosecutor’s Office, and the investigation is carried out by investigators from the Serious Crimes Investigation Board of the Šiauliai County Police.
Gabrielė Petkuvienė, representative of the Šiauliai Regional Prosecutor’s Office, told BNS that the name of the legal entity mentioned in the police reports is not made public by decision of the prosecutor Saulius Kulikauskas.
“A pre-trial investigation has been launched, no charges have been brought against anyone. It is just the beginning of the pre-trial investigation. Just as we do not name private suspects, we do not name private companies,” he said.
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