ArcelorMittal faces probe over claims that pollution from French steelworks put lives at risk
For more than twenty years residents living near a steel plant operated by ArcelorMittal at Fos-sur-Mer on France's Mediterranean coast have been campaigning against the pollution it has been spewing out. According to Mediapart's information, and later confirmed by local prosecutors in nearby Marseille, the multinational steel giant ArcelorMittal – run by Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal - has now been placed under formal investigation over the pollution. The criminal probe centres on claims that the steel plant has exposed residents to illegal emissions and put their lives in danger. The company says it denies the accusations. Pascale Pascariello reports.
ForFor more than a decade steel giant ArcelorMittal is said to have exposed residents of Fos-sur-Mer on France's Mediterranean coast to toxic pollutants, some of them carcinogenic, at levels that breach legal thresholds. The world’s second-largest steelmaker is also accused of having covered up several of its offences by faking records of pollutant emissions at its steel plant there.
