An old privatization contract that does not stipulate environmental protection criteria permits the present owner, Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska to negotiate on tough positions with the Romanian state.

The Basic Element group, which controls the Cemtrade aluminum factory in Romania, announced it would sell its production waste for the symbolic sum of 1 euro instead of isolating it, which would cost 15 million euro.

Even sold for processing, the waste, considered dangerous in a document issued by the Romanian government, will not fade away completely sooner than in ten years.

The waste in the factory are oxides, caustic soda which are deposited in howls. Cemtrade has 6 million tons of such waste, deposited across some 41 acres. Their isolation would cost between 13 and 15 million euro.

Cemtrade officials requested more than 90% of the sum to the Romanian government, saying that most of the waste was there before its acquisition.

Romanian officials refused to grant the money even if they admit the waste there is “historical”. Moreover, when the privatization contract was signed, there were no environmental clauses stipulated in it.

With no legal binding to protect the environment, Cemtrade sells the wastes to a Russian financial and industrial fund involved in the military industry. Cemtrade director, Viaceslav Paraska confirmed for HotNews.ro that negotiations were still under way.

The Russian argues that the 41 acres represent an environmental bomb and their processing would last between 10 and 20 years as the technological line can only process 600.000 tons a year.