Soran bitumen factory shut down due to non-compliance with standards

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - A bitumen factory in Erbil province’s Soran administration was shut down on Sunday due to non-compliance with health and environmental standards, an official told Rudaw.

“A high-level committee… visited the factory today, and due to its non-compliance with health and environmental standards, it got shut down,” said Hazhar Mahir, the head of the environmental directorate at the Soran independent administration told Rudaw.

He said that the factory was warned last week to comply with the environmental standards and regulations, however, “this factory was still operating as it used to.”

Mahir noted that the factory will be given a period of up to three months to apply the environmental regulations and standards, or it will not be allowed to operate again.

He warned that if the other factories do not commit to those standards “they will not be allowed to operate.”

This comes as the environmental conditions in Erbil province are in poor conditions, mainly due to smoke and fumes emanating from factories and refineries operating across the province.

According to the Swiss air quality monitoring agency IQAir, the air pollution in Erbil on Sunday was 5.7 times the global standards.

Erbil’s internal security forces earlier this month announced they closed several illegal refineries and arrested the operators as part of an ongoing effort to curb toxic air pollution, a persistent issue despite repeated crackdowns over the years.

Erbil has one of the highest levels of air pollution in Iraq, Deputy Environment Minister Jassim al-Falahi told Rudaw in April. 

Illegal refineries are a part of the problem.

In August, Erbil authorities shut down around 60 illegal refineries following a directive from Governor Omed Khoshnaw to combat air pollution caused by the burning of toxic fuels in vehicles, generators, and other machinery.

They were part of more than 100 illegal refineries that were ordered to cease operations, many are located on the road leading to Gwer, east of Erbil. Masoud Nuri, the mayor of Gwer, confirmed that 10 refineries in his subdistrict were immediately closed as part of the crackdown.