GB No. 9, autumn 1992
The builders of the technologically backward "OPOLE" power station have been taking pains to convince us that in the near future they will be able to afford the proper anti-pollution filters that would eliminate all air pollution hazards completely. Welcome as the news might be, one cannot help the uneasy feeling that one is not being told the whole truth. If the power station is not meant to pollute the surrounding countryside at all, why have they designed such a high smoke-stack?
The best anti-pollution filters currently available on the world market are capable of eliminating 80% of sulphur and up to 99% of dust. The remaining 1% is by no means a small matter, considering that it refers to the extra fine dust particles, potentially the most hazardous for human health.
In view of the shortly planned commissioning of the first two power generators that are to be operating without the benefit of any filters whatsoever, discussing the world standards in the manufacture of electro-filters seems rather academic, at best.
If the "OPOLE" POWER STATION PLC is short of funds for the installation of a proper filtration system, it should have opted for running a charcoal grill stand instead; grilled sausage would have surely been more palpable than platitudes about the economic expediency. Hardly a valid argument when juxtaposed with the multi dude of health hazards to the local populace.
The very location of the power station seems to have been approved in open contravention of all generally accepted rules of business efficiency: far away from the fuel source whilst inclose proximity of the thickly forested areas, let alone other "minor" contraventions like the ergonomics of transport, local rate of occupancy, specific natural traits of the area, etc.
The issue is far too \/ important to be left in the hands of the people who are doing their level best to with old from us the vital information about the potential environmental hazards entailed in the project. Telling us there are no hazards involved, is simply telling blatant lies, and they might just as well own up to it.
Ewa Kaczyńska
45-055 Opole
Matejki 5/9
tel. 386-59
ZB 11/91
transl. by Sigillum Ltd.