24/02/2006 - The Environment Agency has
served an enforcement notice on cement manufacturer Lafarge
for breaches of its permit at Westbury cement works in Wiltshire.
The notice was served yesterday (February 22, 2006).
The move follows exceedances of the limits
for emissions of hydrogen chloride and oxides of nitrogen
from the 2 kilns, which burn waste tyres for fuel. Lafarge
has to regularly submit monitoring results to the Environment
Agency as part of its permit conditions and the exceedances
were identified as part of this process.
‘We have served Lafarge with a very stringent
enforcement notice with specific actions and timescales
for them to ensure the works meet the conditions of the
permit,’ explained Jim Flory for the Environment Agency.
New stricter limits were brought in at
the works last December to enable Lafarge to operate as
a co-incineration plant under the Waste Incineration Directive
(WID). The emissions of hydrogen chloride and oxides of
nitrogen have not increased, but WID has imposed stricter
limits on the works.
‘The limits are set well below the environmental
thresholds and safety limits so the breaches have not caused
any harm and will not affect the environment or people’s
health. However we are very concerned that the works are
not meeting their new conditions and this is why we have
issued this enforcement notice’, said Mr Flory.
The Agency’s enforcement notice gives
Lafarge six weeks from February 22, 2006 to carry out a
comprehensive and detailed review to pinpoint the actions
that the company must take to comply with its new permit
limits.
These actions will then be implemented
to a timetable agreed with the Environment Agency. |