Is this Hungary's 'oil' disaster? Is MAL Rt. to Hungary what BP was to the U.S.?
"Local environmentalists say they have tried to call the government's attention to the risks of red sludge for years, pointing to a 2003 report in which they estimated the waste at 30 million tons." Of course the government or the owner of the plant don't do anything until it's too late. We would expect nothing more than incompetence when it comes to government oversight of big natural resource businesses.
"MAL Rt., the Hungarian Aluminum Production and Trade Company that owns the Ajka plant, said that according to European Union standards, the red sludge was not considered toxic waste. The company also denied that it should have taken more precautions to shore up the reservoir." I am not familiar with what the E.U.'s environmental standards are, but I seriously doubt that the company itself doesn't know the harmful effects of this red sludge, even if it's not considered 'toxic'. Yet what they're doing here is essentially denying responsibility. One can only hope that they weren't working through loopholes in the system in order to get away from regulations the way BP did.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
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