INEOS 600 jobs at risk through overzealous regulation

2024年10月11日11:45 来源：INEOS

The INEOS Purified Terephthalic Acid (PTA) plant at Geel in Belgium is threatened with closure as regulators aim to impose unattainable environmental targets on a factory that has already committed to a 80% reduction in cobalt levels.
The plant, which has operated within all environmental standards over the previous 20 years, is now being asked to reduce cobalt levels to a limit that is 20 times lower than expert studies have shown to be required¹ and 100 times lower than those set in Poland.
Commenting, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Chairman of INEOS said, “The EU cannot on the one hand claim to be supportive of industry whilst at the same time yielding to inexpert NGOs who will not be happy until we have deindustrialized the entire continent”

The INEOS Purified Terephthalic Acid (PTA) production platform at Geel in Belgium is one of the few remaining in Europe and is the region’s most efficient with the lowest carbon footprint. PTA is the key feedstock for the global polyester industry that produces affordable materials essential to human wellbeing, from textiles and garments to food and beverage packing. The material is readily reusable and recyclable and will play a key part in Europe’s answer to its long-term sustainability challenge.

The plant has operated successfully for over 20 years and been fully compliant with all environmental regulations. The process utilizes a cobalt catalyst which means that there are microscopic amounts of cobalt in the wastewater from the plant. Historically, the plant’s permit permitted the level of cobalt in the water to be up to 1000 micrograms per litre and the typical emission levels have been almost a quarter of that amount.

The site had agreed to reduce that maximum level to 500 and then to 120 by 2027, requiring over €20 million of expenditure, and this was agreed by the local government. That decision was then challenged by two NGOs, forcing a judicial review and the imposition of a new regulatory limit for cobalt that is totally unattainable and is 20 times lower than shown to be needed and 100 times lower than an equivalent level in Poland2. The European Water Framework Directive does not even identify cobalt as a priority substance, and neither France nor Germany has imposed any limitations.

If the plant’s permit is not renewed and closure is enforced, then almost 600 jobs will be at risk.

Commenting, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Chairman of INEOS said, “This is typical of what we are seeing across Europe. Regulators are bending over backwards to meet the demands of NGOs who are determined to use regulation to strangle the European chemical industry. Their demands are deliberately unreachable and will do nothing to improve the environment but will lead to large scale deindustrialization and the loss of the livelihoods of thousands of hard-working people.”

ENDS

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