In pictures: How coal brought prosperity — and sickness — to Bosnia

“Here in Zenica we are all sick, only some don’t know they are sick yet.” Those were the words of an activist I met on my first trip to Bosnia in 2019. Two years later, he died of lung cancer. That was when — and largely why — this project started. Zenica, a city of roughly 100,000 […]

Oct 12, 2024 - 17:00

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‘More necessary than the sun’

Coal brought prosperity — and sickness — to Bosnia. A phrase uttered by a worker in the 1990s came to define the struggles of a region dealing with the pollution caused by one of its main industries.

Text and photos by
MATTEO TREVISAN
in Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina

A boy suffering from chronic respiratory problems plays at home, a few dozen meters from the the steel plant in Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina. His father says they can never drink coffee in the garden because it fills up with black dust within minutes — and they can’t afford to move to a less polluted area. Next, a miner inside the Banovići coal mine and a night view of the steel plant in Zenica. Local activists say the factory’s activity becomes more intense at night when it is more difficult to monitor the plant’s emissions.

“Here in Zenica we are all sick, only some don’t know they are sick yet.”

Those were the words of an activist I met on my first trip to Bosnia in 2019. Two years later, he died of lung cancer. That was when — and largely why — this project started.

Zenica, a city of roughly 100,000 people some 70 kilometers north of Sarajevo, is one of the most polluted cities in Bosnia. The main source of pollution, according to Eko Forum, a local environmental organization, is a huge steel plant owned by AcelorMittal. The plant, which is almost as large as the city itself, produces energy by burning coal.

The situation has residents in the city and surrounding areas worried about their health and their future.

Alma, who lives in Tetovo, a village not far from the industrial center of Zenica, said she moved to the area after she married, more than four decades ago. “At that time, many people worked in the factory, but today the situation is terrible. Within a 300-metre radius of my house, everyone has cancer.” She was diagnosed with stomach cancer herself in 2021.

Juggernaut: Above, an aerial view of the steel plant in Zenica. The factory was bought by Indian steel giant ArcelorMittal in 2004, but the agreements between the company and the Bosnian government aren’t public.

This is not just a story of Zenica, or even Bosnia, but more broadly of the Central Balkans, where countless cities and towns face heavily polluted air caused by outdated coal industries and power plants, open-cast lignite mines and ash dumps.

According to a Human Rights Watch report, Bosnia has the fifth highest number of deaths from air pollution in the world. Concentrations of pollutants in the region — which is home to seven of the 10 most polluting coal-fired power stations in Europe — are five times higher than the limits set by the EU, the U.N. Environment Program has found.

In the years I explored the industrial cities of Zenica, Tuzla, Banovici and other places saddled with pollution, I discovered a remarkable country, scarred by war but resolutely hopeful that becoming a member of the EU will improve a toxic environmental landscape and usher in a brighter future.

Going under: Below, miners prepare to go underground at the Banovići mine. It takes them 45 minutes traveling on a conveyer belt to get the site, which lies 7 kilometers below the ground. On duty: At the Banovići mine in Tuzla, each miner is given a personal number plate, which he must hand in to the technical office before going underground to receive his personal torch.

Keeping watch: Samir Lemeš, a university professor and president of local environmental organization Eko Forum, observes the steel plant in Zenica. Eko Forum has taken legal action against ArcelorMittal, owner of the plant, accusing it of not respecting Bosnia’s environmental standards. Dust: A resident of Zenica sweeps black dust that has settled on her terrace.

Medicines: Mirsad Selimović at his home in Tetovo, with all his medicines placed in front of him. A former worker at the ArceloMittal steel factory, he has been fighting laryngeal cancer for 15 years.

Survivor: Below, Izet Barcic, from the village of Bukinje near Tuzla. He lives with his wife a few hundred meters from the thermal power station. “They operated four times and removed my lung. This plant is killing us all and I hope one day I’ll be able to leave this place.” Damaged: Waste from the stateowned thermal power plant in Tuzla is dropped into the Jezero Dva reservoir. There are no official studies on the correlation between the plant’s activity and public health. A study sponsored by the Centre for Ecology and Energy, an NGO, found a statistically significant association between negative health impacts and long-term exposure to heavy metals dispersed in the vicinity of the plant and landfills.

Coal legacy: The Banovići coal mine in Tuzla, owned by RMU Banovici. It employs 2,000 people including miners, technicians and administrative staff. Banovići is one of the largest mines in the Balkans and supplies the country’s power generation and industrial plants, but also exports abroad. The mine has an estimated annual production of 1.5 million tons and ranks fifth in Europe.

“Čelik:” Kemal Kudozović in his home in the village of Bukinje, located just a few hundred meters from the thermal power plant in Tuzla. He suffers from respiratory problems and his wife recently died of cancer. “I have no doubt that if I am sick and my wife is dead, it is only the thermal plant’s fault.” Keeping watch: View of the city of Zenica and the stadium of the Čelik football team, which means “steel” in Bosnian. In the background, the steel factory.

Tombs: Below, the Muslim cemetery in Tetovo, behind ArcelorMittal’s steel factory. Fighter: Edita is a member of the Eko Forum association and has been involved with the community in the village of Tetovo for several years. “The young people here want to leave, they have lost confidence and only the elderly are left to fight.”

Unsealed: The Jezero Dva artificial lake, containing the waste from the Tuzla thermal power plant. The plant and the reservoirs into which the combustion ash is discharged are located on the edge of the city. “The reservoir has not been sealed, so the toxic sludge can seep into the ground and into the water,” said Denis Žiško from the Centar za Ekologiju i Energiju, an NGO.

Cracks: Above, the interior of a house in the village of Bašići. As excavations in the lignite mine are moving closer to the settlements in the area, strong vibrations cause cracks in the walls. According to the Centre for Environment in Banja Luke, the mine does not comply with environmental regulations. Neighbors: Alma Alić moved to the village of Tetovo, in Zenica, when she got married. “Within a 300 meter radius of my house everyone has cancer,” Alić says. She has stomach cancer.

Agriculture: Farmers near the village of Fajtovci, in Sanski Most. Local farmers complain that dairy farms in the area don’t want to buy their milk because the animals drink water and eat fodder polluted by the mine. Waste: Industrial waste from the ArcelorMittal steel plant collected in the Rača landfill. According to Bosnia’s regulations, it should have been stored in special facilities to prevent dust from spreading into the air or polluting groundwater.