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94 VIKTOR GLIED
the decision-makers. Such a “poster child” was the battery factory established in
Göd where several conflicts have arisen since its foundation in 2016. First,
inhabitants protested against the planned project, saying that they had had no
chance to express their position (the public was inadequately informed, not being
regarded as a party to the decision). This was followed by voicing worries about
pollution as customary in environmental conflicts (risk perception, endangerment).
In 2018, complaints were made about the closeness of the factory to residential
areas, noise pollution and a stinging chemical smell (worry about a definite
pollutant) . In that year and in 2019, the clearing of forests and expropriations of
agricultural areas shocked the local residents and they expressed their anxieties at
a public forum (environmental destruction, lack of partnership). The concern was
raised that the factory put the inhabitants at risk, but the leader of the firm who
had conducted the safety analysis assured the gathered residents that the storage
of the 200-ton electrode would not be dangerous for the population. Many argued
that the security system of the plant had not been installed as required by regulations
and that the plan for serious disaster management was missing, as the plant was
situated closer than 300 m to residential neighborhoods. They also protested that
the construction of the storage facilities had begun before the permits had been
issued and some parts of the building were less than 20 m away from local residents’
houses (legal offenses in the procedure). The petition about the protest was signed
by more than 500 people (the population of Géd is over 18,000). The requests
for public information by the affected party were not answered by the competent
Pest County Government Office.‘ In 2022, the government declared the factory
and the water utility investments in the vicinity to be priority investments of public
benefit. The battery factory's water consumption is comparable to that of a city
with 100,000 inhabitants. This means a daily amount of 27,000 cubic meters of
industrial and drinking water, which arrives in the special economic zone of Göd
along pipes partly affecting Natura 2000 areas.*
It was made public in November 2022 that a Chinese battery factory — as one
of Hungary’s ever largest investment projects — would be constructed in the
Southern Industrial Park of Debrecen, on a total of 221 hectares. The government
pronounced the gigaproject of some 3 trillion HUF to be a major priority
investment of national benefit. It means that without asking or informing the
stakeholders and people affected by the deployment, the construction can be
launched with tight deadlines.A local referendum has been initiated on the issue.‘
Zsuzsanna Bodnár: Engedély nélküli építkezés, letarolt erdő, gyorsított kisajátítás: nő az elégedetlenség
Gödön a Samsung-gyár miatt [Construction without permission, clear-cutting, accelerated
expropriation: rising discontent in Göd over the Samsung factory]. Átlátszó. https://atlatszo.
hu/2018/11/26/engedely-nelkuli-epitkezes-letarolt-erdo-gyorsitott-kisajatitas-no-az-elegedetlenseg¬
godon-a-samsung-gyar-miatt/
György Farkas: Kiemelten közérdekű lett a gödi Samsung szennyvize [The waste water of Samsung
in Göd is declared a salient public concern]. https://24.hu/belfold/2022/11/03/kozlony-samsung¬
szennyviz-kozerdek-vac/
Ferenc Bakró-Nagy: Helyi népszavazást kezdeményez az LMP a Debrecenbe tervezett kínai
akkumulátorgyár építéséről ILMP initiates a local referendum in Debrecen about the planned
Chinese battery factory]. https://telex.hu/belfold/2022/10/07/Imp-debrecen-nepszavazas-kinai¬
akkumulatorgyar.