Inquinosa: the company that contaminated Sabiñánigo de Lindano

Northwest chemical industries.A.(Full name of Inquinosa) began its activity in Sabiñánigo in 1975.The owners of the company lifted the plant for the production of a pesticide for agricultural and livestock use composed of Lindano (highly toxic, carcinogenic and prohibited pesticide currently in almost all of the countries of the world).

From the beginning the residues of the factory were thrown without control in the landfills of Bailín and Sardas, as well as in a ravine near Jaca, contaminating both the soil and the water of the Gállego river.

It was not until 1986 when the environmentalists of the Aragonese Pyrenees Defense Association (ADEPA) put the first complaints for pollution, all of them being filed.

First article published in Heraldo de Aragón (May 26, 1987) on contamination by Lindano in Sabiñánigo.

In 1987 the media echoed the problem, and shortly thereafter, the Aragon government requested inquinosa the writing of a new plan for the transformation of waste without affecting the environment.The temporary closure of the company in 1989 became permanent by not approved the DGA the reports raised until then.

The regional government itself complained against the highest responsible for the company for an ecological crime.The Provincial Court of Huesca issued a sentence in December 1994, acquitting José Manuel Cuartero (director of the Factory in Sabiñánigo), and condemning 2 months in prison and a fine of 1 million pesetas (6.000 euros) to Jesús Herboso Pajarrón (General Director of Inquinosa).The defendant did not enter prison since his sentence did not exceed two years.

In 2003, a new sentence (ratified in 2009 by the Supreme Court) forced the company itself and Herboso, as the legal representative of the same, to the payment of 6.4 million euros, which currently would amount to just over 20millions adding interest.Payment has not yet been made effective.

The damage caused by the Lindano to the ecosystem of the affected areas in Sabiñánigo, as well as the downstream peoples, is impossible to quantify economically, although from the DGA they ensure that a minimum of 500 million euros will be needed to stop the problem.