Rouen (AFP)

Less than three months after the spectacular fire of the Lubrizol plant in Rouen, a partial reopening of the site Seveso is in view after the positive opinion Tuesday of a committee that the prefect promised to follow.

The Departmental Committee for the Environment and Health and Technological Risks (Coderst) ruled in favor of a partial reopening, and the prefect "confirmed that he would follow this advice", told AFP the prefecture from Seine-Maritime.

The latter reported 20 votes for, four against (Rouen Metropolis, UFC Que Choisir, France Nature Environment (FNE) and Regional Union of Liberal Doctors) and one abstention (a mayor).

The opinion of the Coderst, composed of 24 members including six representatives of the State, joined the one given last week by the Regional Directorate of the Environment, which had judged the record of the company "technically serious and credible".

The prefecture said Tuesday in a statement that the reopening was "two workshops loaded with product mix" and was accompanied by "a drastic reduction in storage of packaged finished products and a decrease in the storage of raw materials."

Prefect Pierre-André Durand "reminds that no total reopening can in any case intervene in the same way".

According to a source close to the dossier, "no chemical reaction takes place in mixtures" Lubrizol wants to proceed.

But according to this source, the project includes a "storage of antioxidants powder (classified + environmentally hazardous material +) and liquid format (classified + harmful +)".

Many local elected officials continue to oppose the resumption of this site hit on 26 September by a fire that has resulted in a plume of black smoke 22 km long and still causes concern.

The deputy PS of Seine-Maritime Christophe Bouillon, who chairs the mission of the National Assembly on this accident, asked the prefect not to "confuse speed and haste". In a statement, he wishes before any decision "to have on the table at least the results of the judicial investigation".

- "economic arguments" -

Charlotte Goujon, PS mayor of Petit-Quevilly, Lubrizol commune adjacent, also considered "premature in the state to consider any recovery even partial," in a statement.

"We still have questions about the security of the site," she told reporters just after the Coderst meeting. The elected representative attended the debates but did not have the right to vote.

According to another source close to the case, the prefectural decree authorizing this partial reopening is scheduled for Friday. But the draft order must previously be sent to the manufacturer who must transmit his remarks to the prefecture.

"No to the reopening of the plant Lubrizol", for its part tweeted MEP EELV and elected Rouen David Cormand.

The party "will give itself the necessary means of appeal against this reopening decision that does not take into account the health and environmental risks," threatened EELV in a statement.

"It's very shocking what happened during the meeting, Lubrizol's management called the secretary of the CSE for (...) a shelling of economic arguments in favor of reopening. did not take place ", for its part estimated Guillaume Blavette, the representative of FNE Coderst, questioned by AFP at the end of the meeting.

Conversely, the opinion of the Coderst was greeted by the LREM deputy of Seine-Maritime Damien Adam.

The director general of Lubrizol France Isabelle Striga attended the meeting but the representatives of the company came out before the vote, said the DG to AFP.

Lubrizol employs 370 people in Rouen, including 120 in its administration.

"A partial recovery of Lubrizol's activities in Rouen would be a fool's bargain", for its part estimated the association Robin Hood in a statement, judging the activity promised to relocate to China in the coming years.

© 2019 AFP