Anbar Environment Directorate files lawsuits against over 8 illegal sand plants

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Anbar's Environment Directorate has opened legal proceedings against more than eight unlicensed sand extraction plants operating in the Jazeera (Al-Qaim) area, the directorate said in a statement. The legal unit, working in coordination with the Environmental Protection and Improvement Police, filed the lawsuits against the plant owners before an environmental judge. Anbar Environment Director Qays Najih said the Environmental Judge has summoned the plant owners named in the cases for questioning, and that legal proceedings are continuing. Najih added that monitoring of facilities found in violation of environmental regulations would continue. Separately, environment and water expert Sumaym Salam Abu Furat had previously announced that dozens of environmental violations had been documented along a stretch of the Euphrates River from the Iraq-Syria border to Lake Hit. In Baghdad district, the Water Resources Department also carried out a campaign in the village of Duwayliyah to remove plantings and walls built on the riverbed. The Environment Directorate also announced that gypsum plants relocated from the Kerima area to eastern Ramadi have caused environmental pollution. No further details on the lawsuits were immediately available.