Ecologists Seek to Halt Construction : Refinery Threatens the Ancient Sites of Delphi

Townsfolk of this ancient sanctuary are joining local and foreign ecologists in an effort to halt construction of a Soviet-built alumina refinery that could despoil Delphi’s ancient sites.

“Delphi does not only belong to the Greeks. As the cradle of European culture, it belongs to all of us,” said Swiss ecologist Franz Weber, 58, whose foundation is leading the campaign against the refinery.

European parliamentarians and local residents also warn that the refinery will cause irreparable damage to the temple of Apollo and threaten tourism revenues, the mainstay of Delphi’s economy.

Opponents of the refinery called on Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou to build it away from Delphi’s ancient sites and closer to where the bauxite ore is being extracted.

$500 Million

Greece and the Soviet Union signed an agreement last autumn to build the $500-million refinery in Ayia Efthymia, four miles west of Delphi and five miles from the Gulf of Corinth. The refinery, scheduled to come on stream in 1990, would create 700 jobs and produce 660,000 tons of alumina annually.

The Soviet Union pledged to buy 416,000 tons a year and Bulgaria another 220,000.

Greece’s Central Archeological Council approved the project provided the refinery would be invisible from Delphi and would not threaten archeological sites.

But opponents like lawyer George Segounis insist that it “will pollute both the town and the ancient sites.”

Ecologists Studying It

“We don’t want the refinery,” said Segounis. “We established a committee and asked ecologists to study the project and advise us on its possible consequences.”

“It is a shame that we Greeks will destroy Delphi so that survival will be impossible,” said Ioanna Konstantinou, a former government archeologist in charge of Delphi’s ancient sites.

Economist Achilles Grigoroyannis said the refinery will daily emit 70 tons of sulfur dioxide and 10 tons of nitrogen oxide. He warned it could destroy nearby olive groves, Greece’s largest, and taint underground water.

Grigoroyannis suggested the refinery be built near Mount Iti, 20 miles north of Delphi, where bauxite, the raw material for alumina, is being extracted.

Residents Are Wavering

Unlike Delphi’s 2,000 inhabitants, Ayia Efthymia’s people--mostly farmers--waver between the wish to preserve the ancient sites and the need to create new employment.

“I don’t mind if they build the refinery next to the village,” said farmer Spyros Babagenas. “It will give people work. Our young people leave because there is no work.”

“We have schools with no children,” said Nikolaos Kollias, a worker from Ayia Efthymia. “Everybody leaves the area. The plant will give us new life.”

In 1978, ecologists and actress-politician Melina Mercouri successfully campaigned against former Prime Minister Constantine Karamanlis’ plan to establish an alumina refinery near Delphi.

Solicited Support

Weber and the European parliamentarians, headed by Irishman Oliver Flanagan of the Council of Europe’s Committee on Culture and Education, solicited the support of Mercouri, Papandreou’s culture minister, for their current campaign. The Swiss ecologist said they had received no reply.

“The only thing we got from the government was a telex saying that they couldn’t do anything because the site of the proposed refinery was not within the protected landscape of Delphi,” Weber said.

But last year a presidential decree excluded Ayia Efthymia from the protected area, Weber said.

“The Greek people know how to protect their monuments,” Mercouri said, adding that Delphi’s archeological sites were one of her ministry’s priorities.