Debrecen4U June 25, 2026

Semcorp Fined and Operations Suspended by Environmental Authority

As previously reported, Mayor László Papp had requested that the environmental authority conduct a comprehensive investigation into the matter and examine Semcorp’s responsibility, following recurring environmental pollution incidents exceeding regulatory limits.

In response to an enquiry from Médiacentrum Debrecen, the Water Management and Protection Authority of the Hajdú-Bihar County Government Office stated that it had ordered Semcorp Hungary to carry out accredited sampling from the monitoring wells, the stormwater drainage system and the retention basin. Although the company had arranged for the sampling to be conducted, it submitted the results and evaluation to the authority after the deadline, for which it has been ordered to pay a fine of HUF 1,000,000. Semcorp has challenged this decision before the courts.

Based on the late-submitted test results, the Water Management and Protection Authority has established that limit values had been exceeded for several metal and metalloid components (aluminium, barium, zinc, cadmium, cobalt, chromium, lithium, manganese, nickel, lead, copper, iron and arsenic), both in relation to the statutory limit values and compared with the water testing results obtained during the baseline assessment.

As a result, the Water Management and Protection Authority has ordered the company to install an impermeable lining in the stormwater retention basin, conduct quarterly testing of the monitoring wells, expand the range of components subject to testing, reimburse procedural costs exceeding HUF 2,000,000, and pay a water management fine of HUF 1,000,000.

In this case, which is unrelated to the previous contamination incident involving firefighting foam, the environmental authority has also initiated official proceedings, ordering remediation measures and a fact-finding investigation by the company, and and launching proceedins against the company for operating in a manner inconsistent with permit conditions.

The authority stresses that it acts rigorously in every instance, with specialists investigating cases responsibly and as thoroughly as possible, conducting their proceedings diligently, and imposing the sanctions prescribed by law even in cases of the slightest infringement. Semcorp’s operations have previously been suspended once by the environmental authority.

Source and photo credit: dehir.hu