Stone quarry opens again in Kocaeli: ‘It threatens public health'

* Photo: CHP Press

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Located in the district of Gölcük in Kocaeli, Halıdere stone quarry was closed three years ago. However, the quarry has been opened again following a court ruling, which has caused an outrage among the locals.

Amid these objections and protests, main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), İYİ Party, Future Party and New Welfare Party politicians have visited the district and listened to the complaints of the locals.

CHP Party Assembly member and Kocaeli MP Tahsin Tarhan has recalled that "in 2018, the Governor's Office of Kocaeli identified two violations of the Mining Law here in three years." Underlining that these violations cannot be ignored, he has said, "Because the violations here do not only pollute the environment, but threaten human life and natural life as well."

Referring to the As Elmaslar Transport Excavation Animal Husbandry Contracting Trade and Industry Limited Company, which manages the stone quarry, Tarhan has said that the company is "plundering nature."

"The company let the chemicals that it used while operating the stone quarry mix with the stream water and increased the risk of avalanche with the undue actions that it took," Tarhan has protested, adding:

"The company did not stop there and, disregarding the law and the state, it did not shy away from going beyond the boundaries of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report. It even entered private property."

He has underlined that "the reopening of the stone quarry three years later means that the same unlawfulness will be repeated."

'A product of the mentality of unearned income'

CHP's Tahsin Tarhan has also shared statistical data about the ways in which stone quarries negatively affect human life and environment.

Referring to a study published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, Tarhan has noted that 98 percent of the ones living in the vicinity of stone quarries say they are subjected to dust at home, 85 percent say the field is ruined, 97 percent say the leaves of plants are covered in dust and 92 percent say they cannot raise crops.

Underlining that stone quarries located near residential areas threaten public health as well, CHP's Tahsin Tarhan has indicated that according to scientific studies, 22 percent of the people who are subjected to dust report a high incidence of nose and eye allergies while 17 percent report chest tightness and 9 percent have chronic cough problems.

Asking about the reason behind the insistence on opening stone quarries near residential areas, Tarhan has said:

"The flood disasters that occurred in our country's north, from Rize to Kastamonu, and the forest fires that raged across the country, especially in the Aegean and Mediterranean, this summer are not a coincidence. They are the products of this mentality of unearned income."

What happened?

The license of the Halıdere stone quarry, which started operations in 2015 and belongs to the As Elmaslar Transport Excavation Animal Husbandry Contracting Trade and Industry Limited Company, was revoked in 2018.

Following a court ruling that has concluded that "it can start operating again", the stone quarry opened again last week. An articulated lorry carrying the parts of a sand grinding machine arrived in the area on August 31. The people of Halıdere closed the road leading to the stone quarry in protest and prevented the passage of the lorries heading for the quarry. (DŞ/SD)