Copșa Mică works

Soot from Carbosin encased Copșa Mică in a black covering, while metals from Sometra suffused the air, water and soil, leading to serious health effects on surrounding residents, vegetation and wildlife.

[2] The communist regime, which considered the factory crucial to the national economy and did not export its products,[3] collapsed in 1989.

Starting in late 1992, efforts at updating the plant were made, including better gas purification at the agglomeration unit and blast furnace, completion of the tall chimney and a new dust filtration and water recirculation system.

[1] In early 2009, during the Great Recession, due to a major fall in zinc and lead orders, 80% of employees or over 700 people were laid off.

[8] From 1950 to 1970, new units for producing carbon black were set up, as well as for formic and oxalic acid and methyl methacrylate.

Until operations were suspended, Sometra remained the area's chief polluter, its emissions of sulfur dioxide and dust affecting all aspects of the environment.

[11] A March 1990 report in The New York Times describes the town: "For about 15 miles around, every growing thing in this once-gentle valley looks as if it has been dipped in ink.

Horses could only live there for two years,[3] and the only animal life in the immediate area were wildfowl, the meat of which was inedible from the toxins.

[10] Studies of children seven to twelve years old from Copșa Mică and Mediaș found that many showed signs of mental retardation, two-thirds were underweight and 30% of boys and nearly half of girls had high blood pressure.

In 1985, a local doctor wrote a detailed report that ended up in the hands of dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu, earning him a visit from the Securitate secret police and leading to construction of the tall chimney that spewed sulfuric emissions toward nearby villages.

[3] Residents were dependent on the factory for their livelihood, saw the pollution as part of reality and were reluctant to agitate for change.

[10] Local authorities became aware of damage to vegetation caused by the factories by the early 1960s, a phenomenon that widened and intensified over time.

Planting trees, even with additional costs such as fertilizer, has not always been successful either, due to soil contamination and elevated acidity.

Erosion, landslides and repeated fires have taken place, and trees' beneficial effects on climate, water and air quality have been seriously diminished or eliminated.

[4] With Sometra shuttered, the year 2010 marked the first since measurements were taken that air pollution did not exceed legal limits.