Erciyes Explosives Industry and Trade Inc. has submitted a second application for the explosive material storage facility it intends to build in the pasture between the villages of Eğrisöğüt and Aşağıbeyçayır in Kayseri's Pınarbaşı. The project, which has sparked local outrage, had previously ended when the company withdrew its Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) application.
Following the local community's reaction, the company withdrew the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process in March and prepared a new project presentation file. It aimed to circumvent the EIA Regulation by changing the scope.
In the initial project, the company had announced that it would produce and assemble 'capsule-sensitive emulsion, anfo, heavy anfo, and capsules,' but in the new project, they have abandoned 'capsule-sensitive emulsion' and 'heavy anfo.'
Additionally, there has been a reduction of 150 tons in the amount of explosive material to be stored, decreasing it from 575 tons annually to 425 tons.
If a decision of "No EIA required" is made, the company will be able to build an explosive factory on the land used by the villagers as a pasture without conducting 'public information and participation meetings.'
Speaking to bianet, Harun Özkan, the President of the Kayseri Karaçay Culture and Solidarity Association and a lawyer from the village of Eğrisöğüt, said, "Unfortunately, we all thought we had been saved from this factory, but they have quietly engaged in different activities."
Özkan mentioned that Erciyes Explosives Industry and Trade Inc. has made a new application by making it seem like they have downsized the project. He stated, "The company has reduced the reactions, excluded the project from the scope of the EIA, and even made it exempt from public information and participation meetings."
Özkan noted:
Now they are sidelining us, the villagers. They are conducting underground activities. Nobody wants this factory here. We believe it is not legal, not fair.
Initially, there was at least an informational meeting. There was an EIA meeting for the evaluation of the process. We want experts' reports on whether this is suitable for it in terms of nature, plants, and animals.
Here, there are plants and animals that do not exist anywhere else in Turkey. Some trees need to be protected, they are qualified for protection.
They will store 425 tons of explosives nearly 950 meters away from you. Just a few years ago, in Hendek, 7 people died, and 127 were injured in an explosion at Büyük Coşkunlar Fireworks Factory. There is no risk of such an explosion in the private sector.
According to the regulations, even the work boots of the workers in the facility should not have iron nails because there may be friction-related explosions. It's such a risky and serious matter. It's incomprehensible to trivialize such a serious matter, exclude it from the EIA process, and do something like that."
(HA/PE)
