Activist Accuses DIAMO of Deception in Protecting Ostrava Chemical Waste Dump

Environmental activist and TOP09 regional politician in Ostrava Jiří Michalisko has sent an open letter to the Czech Minister of Industry and Trade, accusing the leadership of the state-owned company DIAMO of misleading authorities and residents about the safety of the Heřmanice heap (Halda Heřmanice). According to him, the protective air wall meant to stop the spread of underground smouldering toward the chemical waste dump does not actually work.

The letter's author claims that DIAMO's director — including at a meeting with residents attended by the prime minister — stated that the so-called separating air wall A had been safely sunk down to groundwater level at 204 metres above sea level. This was precisely the condition set as mandatory for the wall's construction in 2021 by an international expert commission under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, which included representatives of the ministry, state administration bodies, the city of Ostrava and the Czech Mining Authority.

Five Boreholes Expose the Deception

However, according to Michalisko, five new geotechnical boreholes drilled along the entire length of the wall in a single day revealed a very different picture: the structure was never actually sunk down to the 204-metre groundwater mark. In practice, the letter states, this is not a protective wall at all but a pile of construction debris — tyres, plastic, wood and asbestos — up to 10 metres thick, resting on combustible rock.

The activist stresses that in this condition, protection of the chemical waste site from underground smouldering is effectively non-existent. The temperature in the illegally filled section has already reached 52 degrees Celsius. According to a 2010 risk assessment, 40 degrees is considered the critical threshold for self-heating and an underground fire to start — meaning that limit was exceeded long ago.

"It's No Longer a Question of 'If', But 'When'"

"Given the wall's current technical condition, the question is no longer whether the chemical waste site will catch fire, but when," the letter states. Michalisko notes that DIAMO's new design documentation for continuing construction of the next sections of the protective wall formally accounts for the same commission requirements — which makes the violations uncovered all the more serious.

The letter's author directly calls on the minister to personally come to Ostrava and see the situation on the ground, describing the city's residents as hostages to DIAMO management's incompetence and lies, which he says pose a broader threat to public safety.

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Around Prague, based on reporting by ekolist.cz