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| The Albanian police in Fier finds pollution in the Gjanica River |
In a move aimed at protecting the environment, police in Fier, Albania, announced on Saturday that they had apprehended an employee of a private company engaged in hydrocarbon processing. The individual was caught red-handed discharging hydrocarbon waste in the vicinity of the former Oil Refinery Plant in Fier. Authorities have also initiated legal action against the company's administrator, Shaban Guni, and the head of the cleaning sector, Met Backa, local media report.
This environmental incident follows closely on the heels of another case where the Fier police initiated criminal proceedings against the directors of the state-owned company "Albpetrol" and the oil extraction company "Terra Oil." The charges stemmed from oil discharges that polluted the Gjanica River over the course of the week.
The police investigation revealed that the two companies, jointly responsible for the actions of three individuals, had polluted the waters of the Gjanica River by discharging hydrocarbon waste into it as a result of their hydrocarbon-related activities. Authorities confirmed that these discharges occurred not from the old oil waste disposal pits but from the storage facilities of the two active companies.
The case has been referred to the prosecutor's office, implicating Claudio Alisinani, the director of the Oil Production Center, Sokol Ahmataj, the head of the Decantation Sector of Patos, all from the state-owned oil company "Albpetrol," and Edmond Bejtaj, the Director of Hydrocarbon Operations of the company "Terra Oil."
The companies, however, have denied any wrongdoing and asserted that there had been no oil discharges into the environment from their facilities. Despite this, the Gjanica River, which traverses the city of Fier, has become polluted and has a near-blackish color several times a year. The air is laden with a strong petroleum odor, caused by the hydrocarbon waste discharged into the river, according to local residents.
Environmental agencies had previously imposed administrative fines and suspended the activities of several companies operating in the hydrocarbon sector. However, the pollution of the river has yet to be curbed.
The Albanian government recently initiated a project to revamp the city center of Fier, with an investment exceeding $6 million. Part of this endeavor involved interventions in a section of the Gjanica River bed. The project aimed to restore the Gjanica River to one of the region's most important natural assets within the urban area of Fier. Nevertheless, the continued pollution of the river by hydrocarbons threatens to undermine this objective.