The Environmental Protection Agency ordered the municipal company Grijanje in Pljevlja to cease all further activities, production and delivery of thermal energy and to prepare a report on the measures taken to eliminate the consequences.
The agency issued the decision on July 21, and Grijanje can file an appeal with the Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Northern Development within 15 days of receiving the decision.
A month earlier, the Agency ex officio initiated proceedings to determine environmental damage or an imminent threat of environmental damage due to "knowledge that there is pollution of the environment, land and damage to the health of citizens from a boiler house located between residential buildings with an installed capacity of about six megawatts."
"Pursuant to Article 17, paragraph 1 of the Law on Liability for Environmental Damage, when environmental damage occurs, the operator is obliged to immediately notify the administrative authority and the competent inspection and take the necessary remediation measures in order to limit and prevent further spread of environmental damage and negative impacts on human health, and Article 30, paragraph 1, when in emergency cases the operator is obliged to immediately implement preventive and remediation measures in order to prevent or eliminate environmental damage," the Agency's decision states.
Apartments and business premises in the city center are heated from the boiler house in Skerlićeva.
On July 24, the Agency requested the Center for Ecotoxicological Testing (CETI) to conduct soil sampling in the immediate vicinity of the boiler room and submit the analyses to them as soon as possible.
On December 26 last year, the Environmental Inspectorate banned Grijanja from carrying out the activity of producing and delivering heat energy because the analyses conducted by CETI showed that the concentrations of powdery substances, carbon monoxide and arsenic were above the tolerance limits. Grijanja then addressed the Ministry on December 31.12, 2024 with a proposal to postpone the execution of the decision, because the water in the pipes would freeze due to low temperatures. After Grijanja's urgency, the Environmental Inspector extended the deadline for executing the decision until May 15, when the work ban came into force again.
Ten days ago, the Assembly of Tenants of the building on Skerlićeva Street, where the city boiler room is located, declared their support for a ban on the boiler room's further operation. The request sent to the local administration was signed by all 16 apartment owners.
Grijanje recently told "Vijesti" that it expects the boiler room to be able to operate during the next heating season, and that until then the company will do everything to further reduce pollution. They remind that last year new multicyclones, or flue gas purifiers, were installed, which led to a reduction in pollution. They plan to install flue gas fans during the summer and prepare the boilers as best as possible in order to further reduce pollution.
The heating company has given up on installing bag filters, which would minimize the emission of dust particles, because it is a project that would require obtaining a building permit and could not be completed by the start of the heating season on October 1st.
"In the event of the boiler house being closed, we would lose the entire secondary network, worth millions of euros, because the pipes would corrode and users would turn to alternative heating sources, which would jeopardize the initiated district heating project in Pljevlja in the long term, because in that case it would be difficult to return them to this type of heating," the director of the Heating Department recently told "Vijesti". Vlade Tošić.
One of the tenants of the building on Skerlićeva Marko Dajevic He says that pollution from the boiler room has been poisoning residents for years, and no one is doing anything to protect them.
"For years, renovations have been carried out without any necessary permits. Many residents have suffered from severe lung and cardiovascular diseases, as well as many cases of cancer. Our children sleep above boilers of enormous power and all the fumes enter our apartments. All residents have signed a petition to relocate the heating plant. Every year they promise us and ask us for patience. This time we will not give up," said Dajević.
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