The eighty or so residents of the hamlet of Fortes in the municipality of Ferreira do Alentejo complain of not being able to leave their traditional whitewashed homes due to plumes of smelly thick brown smoke that billow from the factory’s chimneys, reportedly coating property and vehicles in a dirty residue.
Campaigners met with the local Mayor last week during a weekly open audience and claim they have his backing to take their fight to the highest echelons.
Complaints against the Azpo plant, an olive pomace oil extraction factory that set up in 2009, have also been made to the Public Prosecutor.
Last Friday the locale was visited Catarina Martins, leader of the Left Bloc, who was accompanied by TV news crews to draw attention to Fortes’ plight.
The entourage interviewed locals and captured the unpleasant fumes that they claim regularly blanket the tiny village. During her visit, Martins also allegedly pledged to take the matter to parliament.
“Those who live closest to the factories can’t do anything. They can’t socialise, they can’t go outdoors... They’ve become confined to their homes”, one campaigner told The Portugal News.
As the production of olives and olive oil in the Alentejo has soared over the past decade, the need for by-product transformation plants has led to the construction of these sprawling factories. There are currently four such plants in the Alentejo, and more on the way, campaigners say. Local resident Fátima Mourão lives two kilometres from the factory.
While admitting she is not among the worst affected by the factory’s alleged “pollution”, as “there are people who live just 110 metres and 300 metres from it”, she claims the vapour from the chimney still leaves a residue on her home.
“I woke up the other day and the window shutters were covered in oily green particles” she told The Portugal News.
Fátima elaborated: “The factory says that what comes out of the chimney is water vapour, but we don’t believe it is. There are small black and green particles in it, which when the wind blows towards the village, covers cars and roofs”.
The health of those who live nearby has also deteriorated, she accused. “Those with asthma have become much worse; it affects allergies, lungs…” Fátima said, reiterating: “The residents of Fortes can’t leave their homes. When the wind is blowing that way, the village is covered in a smelly, thick haze.”
Mrs. Mourão claims locals are also concerned with the effects the factory’s “polluted” vapour is having on the surrounding farmlands and want the emissions tested, along with water from the factory that is discharged into a nearby river.
She says the local authority has offered to pay for analyses.
A total of 67 complaints have been made to the Public Prosecutor by the residents of Fortes, for believing there are “indications of the practice of the crime of pollution” and “the fundamental rights” of the local population and of neighbouring areas are at stake.
Locals have also set up a facebook platform, ‘problema ambiental em fortes’, which demonstrates the problems the village is facing.
Environmental association Zero, which campaigns for sustainability, has acknowledged Fortes’ battle.
In comments to The Portugal News, Professor Francisco Ferreira, Zero’s president, said the situation is “inadmissible”, because of the smells and the apparent existence of particles.
He further said the factory’s emissions “don’t seem to be compatible with legislation”, explaining “there is reason and it seems evident” that they fall short of regulations, describing the goings-on as “worrying”.
The Zero president added: “We will be lending forces to the local population’s movement”, to help highlight the situation before the competent authorities.
The Portugal News contacted the Azpo Plant and Ferreira do Alentejo Council for comment, but none had been received by the time of going to press.