On the last day of March one news focused the attention of the people of Varna for a whole week. Lovers of morning walks on the beach discovered that tens of meters of Varna Bay is polluted by oil products.
The next day, the morning blocks of the national television made it known to us all. In the whole information flow during the week, the participation of the Director of the Regional Environmental Protection Agency – Varna in “This morning” on BTV was key. He told how a crisis headquarters would be convened in the Regional Administration. How he would declare a state of emergency. How the guilty will be punished. And how the council will have to discuss providing financial assistance to the concessionaires of the beach, because the concession contracts do not include “actions in extreme situations” and therefore the state will have to take care. He also questioned how the rocks would be cleaned up. The whole interview was very reminiscent of the style of interviews given by the leader of the MRF – New Beginnings.
On the same day in the District Administration – Varna, the Headquarters for the implementation of the District Disaster Protection Plan was convened and the disaster situation was formalized.
The information did not stop there: we found out that the pollution was most likely caused by a ship that was on a raid in Varna Bay, but the inspection could not identify the villain. Therefore, all 250 pages with the findings of the Maritime Administration Directorate will be handed over to the Economic Police. We understand that measures were immediately taken to clear the beach, but it is not clear how the clearing of the stones will take place. We understand that there are satellite images showing an oil slick 16 km out to sea opposite Cape Galata, but this may not have been the case. We understood that the controlling inspectors were going round the beaches, taking samples for analysis and issuing prescriptions. We understood that the most important thing was to save the tourist season. And how we only breathed a sigh of relief when it became clear that the beaches of Golden Sands and Sv. Everything is OK! The people of Varna, fish, flora and fauna were left to rely on the instructions given to the concessionaire – the material collected with petroleum products should be handed over to regulated landfills for subsequent procedure and processing according to the standards.
Officially, it was all over for the public on Friday when the Inter-Ministerial Committee formed for the occasion lifted the state of calamity after the bags of collected petroleum products were removed from the beach.
Not officially, several questions remain unanswered: will only the sand be cleaned? And the stones? Or will we rely on the sea to do the job? And the oil slick in the sea? When will the sample results come out and will they be made public? Will the state compensate the concessionaire for the extraordinary clean-up costs and for how much? How will this amount be calculated, since we have no practice in dealing with such disasters? Will the injunction that what is collected should go to specialized dumpsites be followed? To which landfill were the collected bags temporarily taken? What is the standard procedure for processing the collected waste and where will it be done? Who is authorized to monitor and control the implementation of the prescription? How much will it cost (Total) to deal with the emergency? Will the fine imposed on the perpetrator (under the norm, up to a maximum of 150,000 leva) be commensurate with the amount provided for compensation? And will the culprit ultimately be found, or will the state (i.e. all of us) pay the whole thing?
