This Thursday morning at 10.15 a.m., the plant fertilizer manufacturing Yara in Montoir-de-Bretagne launched its internal operation plan after a sulfuric acid leak on a storage bin. A “small-scale leak, currently contained within the establishment” provides the services of the prefecture in a press release. According to her, no consequence was observed outside.
Confined employees
_”Employees of Yara and surrounding businesses were confined to ensure that it was a small leak” rtell Thierry Noguet the mayor of Montoirnot surprised however to see this kind of incident. “I am tired and worried. Yara is a group that prefers to pay fines rather than comply with environmental standards. And having only been notified myself several hours after the alert, this is not likely to reassure me”. _
The difficulty now for the operator will be to empty the tank concerned safely and according to the environmental standards in force.
The Yara company operates facilities in Montoir for the manufacture of fertilizers based on ammonium nitrate. Sulfuric acid is one of the raw materials used in this process.
For several years, this factory, located in the port of Montoir, has been the target of criticism. “One of the biggest polluters in the sector” according to associations. Yara is also in the State services viewfinder. In December 2020, the company was condemned to pay €28,500 for industrial water discharges exceeding the limit values without a treatment unit project. In February 2022, an order was made to liquidate a penalty payment in the amount of €80,400 for threshold overruns emissions of dust into the atmosphere.