A battery plant near Komárom, in northern Hungary, might be endangering citizens’ health as the cumulative effect of the plant’s multiple units on the environment has not been tested, opposition LMP said after a public hearing at City Hall. Party spokesman József Gál told a press conference that the drinking water supply of the city would not be able to cover the needs of the plants. The use of water from spring-water wells around nearby Tata are already depleting karst water in the area, he said. Humidity in the air around the plants might concentrate pollution there, he added. Gál slammed the Fidesz mayor of Komárom, Attila Molnár, for not answering questions regarding the battery plant. LMP has initiated a referendum to make new battery plants conditional on residents’ consent, he noted. At the public hearing, which was originally on the city budget, Molnár called the dispute on the plant expansion “political profiteering”.