ANP Chemie company Chemours in Dordrecht
In association with
Rijnmond
NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 21:36
Chemical company Chemours in Dordrecht must stop discharging the substance trifluoroacetic acid (TFA). Environmental service DCMR threatens with fines of 125,000 euros per violation.
On behalf of the province of South Holland, DCMR is responsible for licensing, supervision and enforcement at companies such as Chemours. In May, the environmental service found TFA in the wastewater that the company discharges into the sewer, reports Rijnmond. According to the province of South Holland, Chemours does not have a permit to discharge this substance.
TFA is a pfas compound, which RIVM has designated as a ‘substance of very high concern’. These are substances that have not yet been classified with certainty as very high concern, but are being closely monitored. The environmental service and the province want the discharge to stop immediately and are imposing a so-called order subject to periodic penalty payments on the chemical company.
Penalties
DCMR is now having the water sample analyzed by an independent laboratory. “If after four months it turns out that Chemours is still discharging unlicensed TFA, the environmental service will collect penalty payments. It concerns 125,000 euros per detected violation with a maximum of 1,250,000,” said the province. Chemours can still challenge the decision in court. The company has not yet responded.
It is not the first time that the environmental service Chemours has imposed fines. In 2018, for example, a substance was found in the wastewater for which Chemours did not have a permit to discharge. There was then a threat of a penalty of 250,000 euros per violation.
Hearing
The plastics manufacturer is under a magnifying glass after a recent TV broadcast of Zembla. Unveiled in June Zembla internal documents, which showed that the management of Chemours (formerly DuPont) already knew in 1993 that the pfas used at the Dordrecht site caused groundwater pollution.
Pfas concentrations were measured that were 75 times higher than DuPont’s own standard. That broadcast has led to a lot of unrest among local residents and others.
This Friday, the province is organizing a hearing on Chemours at the town hall in Dordrecht. Local residents, local administrators, the environmental service, employees and the management of the company can then have their say. According to Rijnmond, so many people have registered for this hearing that an extra day has been set aside for it.
2023-08-30 19:36:25
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