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Since 2012, BLS has delivered around 16,000 tonnes of partially contaminated ballast to the quarry above Blausee.
- Since 2012, BLS has delivered around 16,000 tonnes of partially poisonous ballast to the Mitholz quarry.
- The construction group Vigier AG confirms the investigation of the “SRF Rundschau” and the “Berner Zeitung” and announces an investigation.
- The canton of Bern had already declared in the summer that it was “illegal” to process old gravel at the quarry site.
- Blausee owners are “shocked and speechless” by the new revelations.
Following inquiries by the “SRF Rundschau” and the “Berner Zeitung”, the construction company Vigier went on the offensive this morning. The construction giant announced in a press release a “comprehensive investigation” into the removal of the excavated track at Mitholz. The construction company operates the quarry in the Bernese Oberland above Blausee and now wants to investigate what exactly happened at the site from 2012 to 2020.
Vigier also confirms in the text that BLS delivered a lot of old ballast to Mitholz in the corresponding period. Since 2012, BLS has delivered a total of around 16,000 tonnes of old ballast to the quarry from various construction sites. According to the BLS, the “largest part” is “uncontaminated or slightly soiled material.” But the BLS also delivered “very dirty” old gravel to the quarry. “We have been contractually guaranteed that we will be properly disposed of,” the BLS said.
Canton talks about “illegal” processes
When the “Rundschau” and the “Berner Zeitung” discovered in late summer that the contaminated old ballast from the Lötschberg tunnel had been processed in the quarry, the canton of Bern made it clear: “This is illegal,” said Jacques Ganguin, Head of the Bern office for Water and Waste (AWA). It is a quarry and not a landfill. Old gravel cannot be processed there, not even less contaminated.
Blausee AG surprised
“We are speechless and shocked,” Stefan Linder of Blausee AG told SRF today. We demand a comprehensive and neutral investigation into these incidents. “We have no confidence in the internal processing,” says Stefan Linder. “In particular, we want to demonstrate that toxic sludge and fine fractions were disposed of in a landfill in accordance with the law,” says Linder.
Blausee AG has been struggling with mysterious fish kills since 2018. Thousands of trout perished for some unknown reason. Blausee AG suspects that the processing of contaminated ballast from the quarry above the nature park is the cause of the fish’s death.
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