This morning Kem One was convicted by the Marseille correctional court to pay a fine of 50,000 €, 4,000 € in moral damages to environmental protection associations with the status of civil claimants and 5,000 € to Robin des Bois for ecological damages for the discharge of harmful substances.
The fine of 50,000 € is lenient, but it is offset by the obligation for Kem One to publish this conviction on their website for 2 months, on the L’Usine Nouvelle site, and in the Les Echos newspaper for 10 consecutive days. The principal shareholder for Kem One is now Apollo Global Management who holds 500 billion in assets in the banking, digital, and chemical sectors. Kem One operates 7 chemical factories in France.
This judgement and its publicity serve as a reminder to all industrialists in Martigues/Lavera and Fos-sur-Mer that they must take the necessary technical and operational measures to prevent pollution and protect the population. It is their responsibility to remain vigilant and maintain their intervention resources at the highest level, in all seasons, and at all times, day and night.
July 2020. Photo Bataillon des Marins-Pompiers de Marseille
During the night of 22 to 23 July 2020, the Martigues/Lavera Kem One factory discharged an estimated 470 tons of ferric chloride solution into the Mediterranean via the Anse d’Auguette. The corrosive and viscous slick spread over 16 hectares before settling itself on the seafloor. It caused heavy mortality among fish, brown and red algae, gastropods and echinoderms, including sea cucumbers, and at least one northern gannet with burns to its feet webs. Only one pair of gannets nests in the Mediterranean. The sludge deposits covered the Posidonia meadows which are considered the most important ecosystem in the Mediterranean by the National Inventory of Natural Heritage (INPN). The recognition of ecological damage defined as “a non-negligible impact to the components or functions of an ecosystem or the collective benefits derived by humans from the environment” (article 1247 of the civil code) is a victory for Robin des Bois. The defense for Robin des Bois was presented by its president Charlotte Nithart assisted by its jurist Lise Contant.
From an alert that was sent at 11:41p.m., the ferric chloride leak was not stopped until 10:00 a.m. the next morning. The storage reservoir for the ferric chloride at the source of the pollution was rusted and cracked and the retention tanks designed to contain leaks were not watertight. Kem One claimed before the court that the corrosion on the tanks was undetectable and “irresistible”. To say that the corrosions are undetectable, is to say that the war against rust and micro fissures is lost in advance and that all the factories that produce and store corrosive materials must be closed without delay.
This is the first time that Kem One has been found guilty of discharging harmful substances. Yet, the spillage of ferric chloride from July 2020 was the 9th occurrence from the Martigus/Lavera installations between 2015 and 2020 i.e. nearly 2 incidents/accidents per year: chlorine leakage, discharge of white zirconium oxide sludge and soda water, tetrachloromethane spraying…
Between 2012 and 2021, Kem One Martigues/Lavéra has been served with 5 formal notices for failure to comply with regulations concerning water pollution prevention and control.
On the same subject:
Les Seveso continuent à sortir de leurs cages (The Sevesos continue to break out of their cages), press release of July 24, 2020 (only in French)
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