The Portuguese Environment Agency (APA) said today that it has no competence regarding licensing, monitoring and enforcement of the olive pomace plant located in Fortes, Ferreira do Alentejo, and referred explanations to the CCDR Alentejo.
Rogério Silva, vice-president of the APA, speaking at a parliamentary hearing in the Environment Committee about the alleged environmental crimes and impacts on public health associated with that factory in the municipality of Ferreira do Alentejo, Beja District, explained that “no licensing title that the installation currently holds is issued by the APA” and that, therefore, “the matters related to that licensing, monitoring and enforcement, with the exception of those related to water resources, are not within its competence.”
In response to questions posed by MPs from PS, PSD and Chega, the official stated that the APA’s monitoring of the Fortes factory is limited to “prevention, control and the imposition of sanctions for illicit activities in the domain of water resources,” while the National Water Authority participates.
In this case, Rogério Silva explained, since 2023 the company has not had a wastewater discharge license, “as it has started storing them in evaporation ponds, and sending some of them to a biomethane unit,” and therefore, “in strict terms, the APA at present does not proceed with licensing in any of its facets regarding this installation.”
As for air quality monitoring, the vice-president stated that the APA “has a set of stations spread across the country,” with this responsibility locally assigned to the Regional Coordination and Development Commissions (CCDR).
Thus, Rogério Silva referred explanations on environmental impact assessment, the emission of particles into the air, and the installation of control stations to the CCDR Alentejo, the competent authority.
In response to a Chega deputy, the party that requested the parliamentary hearing, the APA vice-president justified the overflow of one of the company’s wastewater retention ponds in February this year with the “storm train” that increased rainfall across the country.
“The company reported the incident to the APA on the same day, and the APA, through ARH Alentejo [Administration of the Alentejo Hydrological Region], ordered the company to delimit the affected area, proceed with its cleanup and transfer liquid between ponds to prevent the repetition of a similar event, balancing the quantities in the other ponds,” said Rogério Silva.
Nevertheless, he continued, it was found that the effluent “did not reach the nearest water line,” with the company removing the “contaminated soils,” sending them “to a licensed landfill.”
“In March, ARH Alentejo returned to the site and collected four samples from the watercourse, one upstream and three downstream, [the results generally complied with the legal references and did not reveal significant organic pollution],” he said.
“We understand that this situation was, indeed, exceptional, in an also exceptional context,” he alluded.
Meanwhile, in May, the General Inspectorate of Agriculture, Sea, Environment and Spatial Planning (IGAMAOT) inspected the factory and “found that the lining of a pomace storage pond was degraded” and with “infiltration of turbid waters into the soil and risk to groundwater.”
“IGAMAOT filed a notice of administrative offense, with the process progressing in its usual terms. IGAMAOT’s order, notified on June 5, ordered the full repair of the lining of this pond within 90 working days, [and the company complied with the request],” he said.
During the hearing, the parties recalled that the Fortes situation “has been ongoing for more than a decade” and has been “marked by successive complaints from residents, agricultural and livestock producers and local associations,” who report “alleged episodes of air pollution, persistent odors, contamination of water resources and damages to public health and to agricultural activity.”
