The Finnish company UPMwhich opened its second plant last year Bulls’ Passagehas already been fined a total of seven times during this period. Ministry of Environmentwhich exceed 270,000 dollars, due to spills in the water tributaries of the Uruguay.
In addition to these violations, there is a latest episode that corresponds to a complaint by Movement for a Sustainable Uruguay which confirmed, based on a report from the National Fire Departmentthe spill of approximately 4,000 liters of 50% caustic soda from the plant UPM in it Port of Montevideo.
According to the report Ministry of Interiorhe Hazardous Materials Department (Hazardous Materials) Fire Department conducted the inspection on July 31, while also being present when security personnel from UPM applied the corresponding absorption measures.
Meanwhile, Latimar personnel were in charge of collecting the product and disposing of it in containment pools. “Haz Mat supervised the procedure until its completion,” said the Ministry of the Interior, adding that no injuries were reported as a result of the spill.
For its part, the Ministry of Environment is aware of the incident and technicians are already preparing a report to subsequently assess whether the company is entitled to a financial penalty.
UPM added environmental sanctions for US$ 270,000
The Finnish company, which has been operating its second plant for just one year, has already received a total of seven complaints for environmental violations, while the Ministry is considering filing two more complaints, in addition to the one filed by the Movement for a Sustainable Uruguay.
The latest violation, which has not yet been confirmed by the portfolio, would correspond to a spill, by UPM 2of a toxic liquid in the stream Willow, an accident that was not reported to the Ministry of Environment The ministry is therefore planning to impose fines of up to $180,000 for the two errors committed.
The Finnish company spent eight days until it informed the environment department about the leachate spill in the Sauce stream on June 18. The liquid, which generally comes from organic waste, is of a very strong color and smell and highly polluting, causing increased levels of PH in the stream.
However, if we go back a while, the first of the Finnish company’s violations did not require a financial penalty but was for pouring products that exceeded the temperature limit, according to a report by the State Secretariat published by El Observador.
The second corresponds to UPM of the Port of Montevideo and it was $4,000 due to the discharge of products that exceeded nitrate levels. Meanwhile, another one followed for exceeding the permitted amounts of ammonium and chloride, with a fine of $1,000. Adjustable Units (UR) translated into $17,000 in total.
On the other hand, the environment portfolio also fined them a total of 12,700 and 19,000 dollars for exceeding the “instant and daily flow” and delays in uploading the information to the Environmental Information Systemrespectively.
The last of these, and the most serious, occurred in August of last year and corresponded to the spill of 1,000,000 liters of waste with caustic soda, an infringement that cost it a fine of 190,000 dollars from the ministry. In total, the company had to pay almost 270,000 dollars for its environmental violations, while it is awaiting the possibility of having to pay another 180,000.
Source: Ambito
