THE Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) has fined SOLID Cement Corp., a unit of listed Cemex Holding Philippines, Inc., P50,000 citing its failure to prevent a 2015 oil spill at its facility.
Cemex disclosed the fine in a regulatory filing on Thursday, noting that it received the notification letter from the agency on Wednesday.
“While the EMB resolution recognized SOLID Cement’s swift response to the situation (including citing that the clean up was 100% complete in seven days, as well as the good results of the water sampling test conducted after the spill), the EMB imposed a fine of P50,000 for violation of the conditions of SOLID Cement’s Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC),” Cemex said in a statement.
Under the Environment department’s Administrative Order 2003-30, P50,000 is the maximum fine for each violation of ECC conditions and other environmental rules.
The incident at SOLID Cement two years ago involved the leakage of heavy oil from a storage tank. — Janina C. Lim
