Mannheim (dpa/lsw) - In the years-long dispute over fighting a major fire in Herbertingen with extinguishing foam, the Administrative Court (VGH) has made an uncontestable decision. Around 15 years after the fire in a waste treatment plant in the district of Sigmaringen, the Mannheim court saw the company as jointly responsible for the remediation of the soil polluted by PFC-containing extinguishing agents.
There is also joint responsibility if the shredder plant did not apply the perfluorinated and polyfluorinated chemicals (PFC) to its premises itself, but rather the fire brigade. Reason: It was not able to dispel allegations of violating specifications and inspection obligations, and of having stored waste illegally. The VGH argued in a statement published on Wednesday (10 S 2801/21).
The district office in Sigmaringen subsequently obliged the operator and two former managing directors to clean up the soil contamination.
