Seized by residents’ associations, the courts had suspended a prefectural decree authorizing the extension of the Daikin factory to the south of Lyon. A decision contested by the company.
The chemical group Daikin announced on Thursday its intention to appeal the suspension by the courts of the operation of a new production unit on its site south of Lyon suspected of pollution by PFAS, eternal pollutants.
A summary judge, contacted by local residents’ associations, suspended, a week ago, a prefectural decree which regulated the operation of this unit of “production and storage of pre-compound”additive polymers, some of which are eternal pollutants.
Daikin Chemical France “will initiate an appeal against this decision, and at the same time provide the prefectural authority with the technical details necessary to allow the re-establishment of its pre-compound activity under the best conditions”indicated its president Gaël Marseille in a press release sent to AFP. “The full consequences of this suspension are still being studied.”he added, specifying that the staff representative bodies had been informed by management.
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Many complaints
The town hall of Oullins-Pierre-Bénite had issued the building permit for this extension in 2021, before the extent of the PFAS contamination of the area was revealed by several journalistic investigations. The work was launched in 2022 and the unit has been operating for several months. PFAS are chemical substances very common in everyday objects (kitchen utensils, cosmetics, textiles, etc.). They owe their nickname to their long life cycle. Some PFAS have harmful effects on health.
In recent months, legal actions have increased against Daikin and its neighbor, the chemical group Arkema. The metropolis of Lyon thus asked the courts at the end of May to order an independent expertise to establish their responsibility in PFAS pollution. The decision is expected to be rendered on July 30.
In addition, searches were carried out on April 9 on the sites of the two groups as part of a criminal investigation, opened after the complaint in May 2022 by the mayor of Oullins-Pierre-Bénite for endangering the lives of others. The Senate and the National Assembly had considered in May a framework for PFAS. The environmental bill was put on hold with the dissolution.
