The plant in the central city of Zenica has "violated nearly all of the 141 measures" outlined in its last environmental permit issued by local authorities in 2022, the media said in a report based notably on official inspections findings.
The report was published by the Sarajevo-based Center for Investigative Reporting, French website Disclose and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, a consortium of investigative journalists.
But the company, a Paris Olympics sponsor, said in a statement to AFP that it was "deeply concerned that the article is not an accurate picture of the comprehensive measures it has implemented to limit its environmental footprint".
"In fact, of 141 ordered measures listed in the integrated permit more than 90 percent have either been completed or are ongoing," it said.
In July 2023, the local environmental authorities warned against exceeding the threshold of particles released into the air, poor waste management and the failure to maintain a system to treat wastewater.
The wastewater "may have led to the discharge of sludge into the Bosna river", one of the country's largest, the report said.
Zenica was the sixth most polluted city in Europe last year, a Greenpeace report showed.
The facility's coke plant, responsible for 80 percent of its emissions according to the company, was closed in late April.
Mittal bought a majority stake in the Zenica plant, founded in the 1880s, in 2004, two years before merging with Arcelor.
The steelworks employs 2,000 people and another 12,000 indirectly, in a city of 100,000 inhabitants.
NGOs accuse ArcelorMittal of using the Olympics to try to restore its ecological image.
Singapore's Sentosa island beaches closed due to oil spill
Singapore (AFP) June 15, 2024 -
Beaches on Singapore's top resort island of Sentosa, which also house luxury waterfront homes, were shuttered on Saturday due to an oil spill at a nearby port, maritime authorities said.
The oil spill resulted from an accident on Friday at the Pasir Panjang terminal between a Netherlands-flagged dredger and a stationary Singapore-flagged bunker vessel, Singapore's Maritime and Port Authority (MPA) said.
Waters of three popular beaches on the island "are currently closed for beach clean-up works due to instances of oil spillage observed in the sea waters," the island said in a notice on its website.
Black residue from the oil slick is visible on the beaches, an AFP photographer on the scene said.
One sign put up on a cordoned off beach read "Oil slick spotted. Clean up in progress. Please stay clear of water."
The MPA said patches of oil and light sheens have been observed off Pasir Panjang Terminal and along Tanjong, Palawan, and Siloso beaches.
Sentosa is a popular tourist destination that hosts a casino, Southeast Asia's only Universal Studios attraction and luxury waterfront homes for expats and the ultra-rich.
"Oil spill response craft have been deployed to continue spraying oil dispersants and to collect the oil slicks on the water surface," said the MPA adding that navigational traffic has not been affected.
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