You are here: Home: News: Talk about it | Mail it | Bookmark it

New rules to prevent soil contamination in EU member states

25/Sep/2006: With soil contamination threatening Europe, the European commission has called for new laws to prevent industries and agriculture from contaminating soil.

The European Union’s executive proposed new rules to preserve soil quality in Europe and urged the governments of the member states to tackle the problem of soil contamination immediately, which otherwise could cost Europe millions of euros every year.

Stavros Dimas, the Environment Commissioner of the European Union said that the quality of European soil is deteriorating at an alarming pace, with only 9 out of the 25 member states of EU, having laws to protect the soil. The proposal submitted by the European Commission, would require all the member states to identify areas that are at risk of soil contamination, land slides, erosion and other related threats and to set targets for reducing these risk factors. The member states would also be required to chart down strategies to achieve their targets.

The new rules will also require the member state to start inventories of contaminated areas, which buyers and sellers of land can use. The European commission estimates that nearly 3.2 million sites across Europe could have contaminated soil. Soil contamination is caused by fuel leaking from tanks in factories, use of heavy machinery in farming and building of roads and other infrastructure. Farmers too, put the soil at risk of erosion caused by wind and water, by cutting down the vegetation on fields, even in non-growing seasons.

The new rules drew immediate criticism from Karl-Heinz, a well-known EU lawmaker, and the chairperson of the European Parliament’s Environment Committee, who said that Europe does not require the new directives proposed by the European Commission.

K Siva

Eco Features
Eco Guides
Health & Lifestyle
Mail This Page
Link To Us
Bookmark
Archives

Recent Articles