Basf, which is building the plant, will start the permitting process from the beginning, but still wants the plant up and running this year.
German chemical giant Basf’s plans to build a battery chemical plant in Satakunta are headwind. There is now an almost completed factory in Harjavalta, which is not allowed to be used for the time being. The reason is the risks posed by the plant to groundwater and the Kokemäenjoki species.
The company now has to start the environmental permit process from the beginning. It is unclear how the company will be able to meet the requirements of the law.
Expectations the Supreme Administrative Court (Supreme Administrative Court) ruled on the commissioning of the plant on Friday decision. The Supreme Administrative Court upheld the decision of the Administrative Court to revoke the environmental permit issued by the Regional State Administrative Agency.
According to the law, the plant poses too great a risk to the environment.
Part of the plant is built in the groundwater area. The Supreme Court considered that the plant poses a risk of groundwater pollution.
Another problem is that the plant’s sulphate-containing process effluents and cooling waters would be discharged into the Kokemäki River.
Kokemäenjoki is one of the most important areas for the occurrence of the meadow. The species is strictly protected. Lammaistenlahti, in the vicinity of the factory, has significant breeding grounds for migratory pigs. The species is classified as highly endangered.
According to the Supreme Administrative Court, it was not possible to show with sufficient certainty how much the wastewater would increase the sulphate content of the Kokemäenjoki River and affect the river’s ecosystem.
Thus, the Supreme Court considers that the conditions for granting an environmental permit did not exist.
The factory the permitting process returns to the home screen. According to the court’s decision, it is not possible to obtain an environmental permit with very small files.
“However, the relocation of the site, the relocation of operations and the possible increase in protection measures, as well as the treatment of waste water, require the preparation of an application for an environmental permit that differs substantially from the current application,” the decision states.
Basfin Country Manager Finland Tor Stendahl says the company is now exploring options to meet the terms of the environmental permit. He says the company has “some sort of vision” of how this could happen. The investment is not collapsing.
“Our goal is to get the plant up and running later this year,” Stendahl says.
The company is now exploring a technological solution to clean up sulfate emissions. The relocation of the plant is ruled out by Stendahl.
“It is not possible to relocate a factory of this size.”
Basf told about Harjavalta’s investment in 2018. The factory was originally scheduled to start up in 2020. The factory is estimated to employ about a hundred people. The company does not disclose the value of the investment.
The plant is part of a planned concentration in the battery industry in Finland.
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