INTERVIEW
The Senate committee of inquiry released a report Thursday on the fire at the Lubrizol chemical manufacturing plant in Rouen last September. In this document, the industrialist's responsibility is pointed out, as is the public authorities' crisis communication. This new rebound risks however not satisfying the Rouen population, still strongly marked by the event. "This is an important speech," said Thursday on Europe 1 Sébastien Duval, the founder of the association of victims of Lubrizol. But for him, "what we expect is that beyond the words of each other, all this translates into action."
"Go beyond words"
"We represent victims, people who live there, so we want to go beyond words", insists Sébastien Duval. His association expects a long legal procedure and therefore wants to act accordingly: "It would be necessary to make truly independent analyzes to either constitute evidence that will be useful in ten years when the trial takes place and that all the politicians are gone , or to really reassure, via truly independent analyzes, the population, tourists, economic actors ... "
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Problem: the analyzes requested have a cost. Each is worth around 300 euros according to the association. Sébastien Duval believes that a solution would allow these analyzes to be funded. The establishment by the Ministry of Justice of a "framework agreement, which makes it possible to give means of investigating, to make analyzes near the victims to collect evidence".
No response from the ministry
The fact remains that the association says it made this request at ministerial level several months ago, but still has "no answer". A difficult situation in the eyes of local residents, who continue to suffer from the consequences of the disaster, when the Lubrizol company asks the State to be able to resume almost all of its activities. "For two months the residents were confined to their homes and had the double trouble because they could not open their windows because of a pestilential odor which still escapes from the site," describes Sébastien Duval.