Archive phone of Naameh landfill site. (Credit: Nasser Traboulsi)
BEIRUT — Methane gas fumes emanating from the disused Naameh landfill, south of Beirut, aroused fears on Wednesday, prompting Environment Minister Nasser Yassin to visit the site and offer reassurance that the environmental and health hazard was being addressed.
Here is what we know:
• From the site of the Naameh landfill, Yassin tweeted that he was there “to measure the danger posed by the blocked gas [released by the garbage],” adding “operations are underway to allow the evacuation of these gases.”
• “The Development and Reconstruction Council (CDR) which manages the landfill will carry out the appropriate maintenance work,” Yassin assured, before noting that “contacts are being made with Energy Minister Walid Fayad in order to reactivate the power plant in the landfill, which operates from methane to produce six megawatts of electricity.”
• Sounding much less optimistic, head of Naameh municipality Zaher Mezher, warned in a statement of the “natural, health and social disaster that threatens public security in the area and neighboring villages.” He noted that underground pipes designed to evacuate the gases are not working.
• High levels of methane can negatively impact people’s health, while concentrations of the gas within certain ranges can result in explosions.
• The Naameh landfill closed in 2016, and since then trash has been dumped in the Burj Hammoud and the Costa Brava sites.