Skanska is once again trying to replenish the stone reserves in the Zárubka quarry near Vrbatov Kostelec in the Chrudim region. The project was terminated in 2017 in the EIA process, which is an assessment of the impact of the project on the environment, by issuing a dissenting binding opinion of the Regional Office of the Pardubice Region. Some surrounding municipalities did not agree with him either. The company had a new assessment prepared, the Ministry of the Environment (MoE) returned the documentation for completion, according to the EIA Information System.
Compared to the previous plan, the extent of the affected area in the mining area decreased slightly from 14.06 hectares to 13.06 hectares. The reason is the permanent preservation of the railway siding and also the rampart above the upper floor towards the village of Leštinka. The area of the newly sunken floors has not changed and is 8.20 hectares, Skanska wants to mine 300,000 tons of aggregate per year in the quarry. According to the documentation, the time of stone transport will be reduced on working days, the transport should be distributed via Prosetín and via Kvasín, and the equipment for reducing dust from the quarry operation and from the technological production process should be improved. The validity of the current decision on the mining activity permit is limited in time to 31 December 2022.
The Ministry of the Environment requests the revision of the documentation and its supplementation, for example, with the possibility of cumulating the plan with other plans or assessing the risk of immissions from mined stone dust with increased radioactivity throughout the planned twenty-year period of operation. It also requires a supplementary traffic study and a more detailed hydrogeological assessment.
In 2017, municipalities in the vicinity of the quarry, such as Prosetín, opposed the continuation of mining. They did not want heavy, dusty, and noisy trucks driving through villages and destroying roads. Leštinka and Vrbatův Kostelec also had reservations. At present, Prosetín does not strictly reject the continuation of mining, but demands that certain conditions be met. “The stumbling block is transport, it has taken on a much stronger dimension than ever before, it has intensified many times in recent years. We are also interested in what will happen to the quarry after mining and reclamation,” said Mayor Michal Vychroň. He said that the railway siding would, in his opinion, be able to transport all quarry production by rail instead of by road.
Prosetín also wants the Institute of Health Information and Statistics to prepare a data analysis of cancer in the municipalities around the quarry. According to some residents, there is a suspicion of an increased incidence of thyroid disease and diseases in children. The municipality is still waiting for the result. “We have elaborated in the EIA’s comments that we recommend not issuing a decision until we all receive the data analysis,” Vychroň added.
According to the Czech Geological Survey, 16 of the 18 aggregate deposits currently in use in the Pardubice Region are in operation and by 2032 only four will remain in operation. The third even has a very short lifespan and will expire within a few years. “The highest annual production is occupied by the Chvaletice, Skuteč-Litická, Jaroměřice-Chornice-Šubířov deposits and three deposits that belong to the low-life category, namely Vrbatův Kostelec-Zárubka, Žumberk-Vížky and Zdechovice-Strážník,” said deposit geologist Josef Godány from the Czech Geological Survey.
Source: EIA Information System and CTK
