Italy: Italian police have impounded Italcementi's Colleferro plant south of Rome for allegedly breaching emission limits. The company has been given 10 days to finish updating its facilities to bring them in line with European Union regulations. Production will continue during this period.
Italcementi said that the process of updating the plant had already been underway and would continue under special administrators appointed to operate factory by an Italian court. Colleferro has a capacity of 1.5Mt/yr and employs about 200 workers.
Justice officials said that the seizure for violation of pollution regulations was ordered by a court in the nearby town of Velletri, based on a report by the regional environmental protection agency, Arpa. This is the second case so far in 2012 of an Italian court seizure of a major factory for environmental reasons. Europe's biggest steel plant Ilva, based in southern Italy, was ordered to shut down in September 2012 by a court due to toxic emissions.