Environmental groups fight Tessenderlo unit licence
Date: 15-Jul-02
Country: BELGIUM
"This licence does not take sufficiently into account the safety of the nearby residents, the gigantic flow of waste caused by the company and the impact the waste drainage of LVM - and Tessenderlo Chemie - has on the surface and ground water in the area," the groups said in a statement.
They have taken the case the State Council, Belgium's highest administrative court, to have the licence withdrawn.
LVM (Limburgse Vinyl Maatschappij) is based in the eastern Belgian town of Tessenderlo, the home of Tessenderlo Chemie. The unit, part of Tessenderlo's PVC business and Europe's largest, has an annual production capacity of 550,000 tonnes of monovinyl chloride (MVC).
The Belgian regional Flemish government in April conditionally issued an environmental licence to LVM which lasts until 2011, but the environmental groups claim the licence does not contain any provisions on emission limits for waste water.
Tessenderlo said the provisions were included in a licence granted to a nearby unit, as the waste water of both units is jointly processed.
"We have a joint waste water purification system for two neighbouring companies, LVM and Tessenderlo Chemie Tessenderlo (TCT) ... The system works better on the joint waste flow than on the separate flows," Tessenderlo environmental spokesman Jules Houtmeyers told Reuters.
He also said extensive safety studies has shown that there is no risk to nearby residents.