Danish Authorities Working To Stop Toxic Landslide To Reach Water Source

Authorities in Denmark are racing against the clock to keep a slow-moving landslide of polluted soil from reaching a water source.

People in a Danish community are afraid their homes may be destroyed by an avalanche of toxic dirt in one of the country's greatest environmental disasters in history.

The landslide is slowly heading towards Ølst, a village of 400 inhabitants south of Randers in Jutland. The soil began moving at a neighboring factory, run by Nordic Waste, where it had already wrecked houses.

Experts expect that at least 2 million tons of contaminated soil are flowing at 2 meters per day, down from 9 meters per day, and will eventually reach the village.

It is suspected that it may pollute the Alling Å River.

Research by the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) into the incident, which has sparked fury throughout Denmark, discovered that the landslide was caused by human, not natural, action. It is believed to contain elements from Norway.

"It is basically the polluted soil itself that is sliding and it started sliding in the relatively dry years of 2021 and 2022, which is something you would not expect from a natural landslide," said Kristian Svennevig, a senior GEUS researcher.

The United Shipping and Trading Company (USTC), which owns Nordic Waste, previously blamed the disaster on climate factors beyond its control.

Rene Møller Larsen, whose shop is 500 meters up the hill from the landslide and has lived in the area for decades, said the normally calm rural community has been rocked.

"They have been shocked. And then the garbage [contaminated soil] was moving so fast. The worst case was it came to the village," he said.

Clean-up Operations

Public officials and the firm that ran the site are disputing who should pay for the huge cleaning.

Over the following six months, cleanup expenditures are estimated to exceed 205 million Danish kroner ($29.8 million), with the total cost potentially reaching billions.

The clean-up began on December 10th, and nine days later, Nordic Waste stopped up on bringing it under control, leaving the work to the Randers Municipality, which has been rerouting the stream by installing pipes to allow it to travel through the site securely.

Environment Minister Magnus Heunicke stated that authorities are trying to extend those pipes and build a sheet pile wall, as well as multiple basins for contaminated water.

The most serious issues are runoff from snow and rain. Western Denmark has received a lot of rain and snow during the last week.

It is still unclear who will be responsible for the cleanup costs. Nordic Waste was declared bankrupt earlier this week after the Danish Environmental Protection Agency ordered them to give security of more than 200 million Danish kroner ($29.1 million) to avoid an environmental disaster.

Denmark's Prime Minister, Mette Frederiksen, who visited the site, said that it would be unfair for Danish taxpayers to pay.

The issue has sparked debate over whether Nordic Waste has a moral obligation to compensate. The government has criticized Denmark's sixth-richest man, Torben Østergaard-Nielsen, who owns USTC, for not paying.