Hungarian opposition DK: Samsung plant danger to nearby towns

A Greenpeace report shows that fetotoxic substances in the wastewater near the Samsung battery plant in Göd near Budapest also threaten nearby towns including Dunakeszi, the environment and climate affairs shadow minister of opposition Democratic Coalition said on Sunday.

The Samsung battery plant in Göd. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Olivio Kocsis-Cake told an online press conference that toxic water had spilled onto arable land near the plant.

In line with a court ruling, the Samsung plant in Göd should have stopped operations a long time ago but “the Orbán government continues to protect the factory with an obvious lie”, he said. The DK politician said that the head of the Prime Minister’s Office attributed at a recent government briefing the factory’s continued operations to postal delivery problems.

DK demands that the government should immediately put a halt to the construction of new battery plants and calls for an investigation by independent experts of the operation of existing plants, he said.

“We must not allow Far Eastern-owned battery plants that neglect Hungarian laws and regulations to contaminate the water reserves for residents, and make their properties lose in value,” he added.

László Szilágyi, the opposition’s mayoral candidate of Göd, said that early this year it was revealed that 88 tonnes of fetotoxic substance had been leaked in the air in two years which “could cause serious problems in the area”. The factory has since received a permit to expand by 43,000 square metres, he said.

Read also:

• Revolting: Samsung factory in Hungary could be closed immediately under new court order
• Scandalous: Fetus-harming chemicals found in water near Hungarian battery plant