Recently, five people with central roles in a waste company were arrested by the police and charged with serious environmental crime. The police believe that the company in Sør-Rogaland has released several thousand tonnes of environmentally harmful waste directly into nature. In the report, the company is suspected of having carried out the illegal emissions since the beginning of 2021. Already in September 2022, two employees of the State Administrator in Rogaland appeared at an inspection at the same company, without finding any deviations other than that the tanks and pipes were not in good condition enough marked. It was only during a similar inspection in April this year – almost 19 months later – that the inspectors uncovered what they characterize as very serious deviations in waste management. The state administrator is now self-criticizing that they did not discover this already in 2022. “Yes, with the eyes of hindsight, we should have,” writes Marit Sundsvik Bendixen, county environmental protection manager in Rogaland in an email to news. Sources news has spoken to fear that the alleged environmental emissions were allowed to continue until the spring of 2024 because the inspectorate was unable to uncover the conditions at the company in 2022. This has happened in the case: on 9 April this year, the State Administrator in Rogaland had an inspection at the company that handles hazardous waste in solid and liquid form, and then all the alarm bells rang. The inspection ended with a police report, and on 27 November five current or former employees were arrested and charged with breaching the Pollution Act. It turned out that the company, according to the police, could not document that large quantities of hazardous waste in solid and liquid form had been handled – that is, stored or transported on – in the correct way. The police suspect that the company has dumped several thousand tonnes of illegal waste straight into nature. The background for the police action and the charges was the inspection carried out by the state administrator in April. Same theme in 2022 and 2024 news has gained access to the report from the state administrator’s inspection at the company on 14 September 2022. At that time, they did not find any indications of a lack of documentation, and thus illegal emissions. From the police press conference after the action against the waste company on 27 November this year. From left: Frode Siljehaug in Økokrim, section leader Amund Preede Revheim and police inspector Pål Jæger-Pedersen in Sør-West police district. Photo: Per Øystein Kvindesland / news In the reports from both 2022 and 2024, it is stated that the subject of the inspections was, among other things, reception control, as well as storage, forwarding and declaration of hazardous waste. In other words, the same areas were to be inspected both times, and the same senior adviser at the state administrator was involved in both inspections. – Went more in-depth this year County environmental protection manager Marit Sundsvik Bendixen says that in 2022 they had a local action, where they checked hazardous waste facilities in the county. This was an overarching inspection where as many topics as possible were reviewed. – In 2024, there was a nationwide campaign where we, together with state administrators throughout the country, checked hazardous waste facilities. Our control this year was set up by the Norwegian Environment Agency. The questions were therefore somewhat different, and we checked other main areas. We also went in depth on certain points that we had not checked before, she explains. County Environmental Protection Manager Marit Sundsvik Bendixen. Photo: Thomas Ystrøm / news She hopes that the police investigation will provide answers as to whether and how long the suspected emissions have been going on. – Beyond this, we will not comment on the police investigation, she says. Lawyers Ørjan Eskeland and Helene Haugland defend two of the accused in the case. None of them want to comment on news’s information about the inspection in 2022. – But I think that this is important in the case, and something that should of course be included in the investigation, says Haugland. May be important in the investigation Amund Preede Revheim, head of the North Sea and environmental section in the Sør-West police district, says that the inspection report from 2022 as of now has not received attention during the investigation. – But at some point both information obtained by the state administrator and other external actors will be relevant, he says. – In what way? – It can be a matter of describing the facts, and apportioning any blame between the accused. The police chief says on a general basis that if an inspection report from the state administrator does not reveal objectionable conditions, then one can expect investigations and actions from employees who are not directly involved in the operation to a lesser extent. – At the same time, it is important from our side to point out that any criminal acts are at least equally punishable, even if they are not discovered during supervision or other investigations, he says. In the two days after the arrests, more than ten interviews were conducted in the case. According to the police, the interrogations have mostly been free explanations from the accused. To a lesser extent, they have been confronted by the police. Much of the investigation so far has been kept hidden from the accused through the sealing of documents. According to the police, none of the accused have pleaded guilty. Naturvernforbundet: – Confirms our impression Gaute Henriksen, general manager of the Naturvernforbundet in Rogaland, was early in the media (external link) and criticized the state administrator for having carried out too poor and infrequent checks. – The fact that the inspectorate in 2022 did not uncover the objectionable conditions at the reported company, and that they are now self-criticising, only confirms our impression of this, he says. Published 12/12/2024, at 19.21
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The state administrator could uncover serious environmental anomalies as early as 2022 – news Rogaland – Local news, TV and radio
