Prosecutors in the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro opened an investigation into a large Feb. 8 fire at a Moove finished lubricant factory on Governador Island.
At the same time the prosecutor’s office paused talks about a settlement and cleanup of previous contamination caused by the plant under previous ownership.
The office said the purpose of the new investigation is to determine the causes and environmental consequences of the blaze and to assign responsibility.
Cosan said in a Feb. 10 statement that the fire burned production facilities and offices but that it did not reach the plant’s main storage tanks. It also said staff was not present when the fire began and that there were no injuries.
The plant is one of Brazil’s biggest finished lubricant factories, and it took 100 18 hours to bring it under control. In addition to any oil or chemicals spilled on the site and chemicals that the fire put into the air, environmental impacts include oil that reached Guanabara Bay, where Governador Island is located.
Moove’s site is on an eastern tip of the island. Fire crews did work to contain and collect oil on the water, according to local media reports.
The pre-existing case dates to 2013, five years after Cosan acquired the Governador Island site from ExxonMobil to form Moove. The government alleged environmental contamination by the site and contended that Moove’s acquisition made it liable.
According to an article published by A Noticias Alagoas, Cosan contacted the prosecutor’s office last year expressing interest to settle the case, but details, including financial compensation, had not yet been worked out.