Publication

Quand des intérêts économiques s'opposent aux pollutions. Les normes imposées à la première grande raffinerie de pétrole en Suisse (1959-1963)

2025

Abstract

When Business Interests Help Regulate Pollution: The Case of Switzerland’s First Major Oil Refinery (1959–1963)

After the construction of a pipeline and the first large oil refinery in Switzerland was announced in early 1959, some neighbours of the future complex became concerned about pollution and demanded guarantees and regulation. Their calls conflicted with the attitude of local authorities, who were very sympathetic to the project and thus reluctant to impose constraints on it. Nevertheless, the conditions finally set in the building permits proved fairly stringent, forcing the developers to relocate one part of the infrastructure in order to release the fumes at a higher altitude. The article highlights the crucial role of federal authorities in bringing about this regulation. It argues that their attitude resulted in no small part from the influence of business groups that feared the competition from the new pipeline and refinery.

Official source

https://infoscience.epfl.ch/entities/publication/5c735b21-da1f-4873-ae38-5caff3f20500

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2025

Abstract

When Business Interests Help Regulate Pollution: The Case of Switzerland’s First Major Oil Refinery (1959–1963)

Official source

https://infoscience.epfl.ch/entities/publication/5c735b21-da1f-4873-ae38-5caff3f20500

About this result

Related concepts (18)

Pollution

Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause adverse change. Pollution can take the form of any substance (solid, liquid, or gas) or energy (such as radioactivity, heat, sound, or light). Pollutants, the components of pollution, can be either foreign substances/energies or naturally occurring contaminants. Although environmental pollution can be caused by natural events, the word pollution generally implies that the contaminants have an anthropogenic source – that is, a source created by human activities, such as manufacturing, extractive industries, poor waste management, transportation or agriculture.

Water pollution

Water pollution (or aquatic pollution) is the contamination of water bodies, usually as a result of human activities, so that it negatively affects its uses. Water bodies include lakes, rivers, oceans, aquifers, reservoirs and groundwater. Water pollution results when contaminants mix with these water bodies. Contaminants can come from one of four main sources: sewage discharges, industrial activities, agricultural activities, and urban runoff including stormwater. Water pollution is either surface water pollution or groundwater pollution.

Air pollution

Air pollution is the contamination of air due to the presence of substances in the atmosphere that are harmful to the health of humans and other living beings, or cause damage to the climate or to materials. It is also the contamination of indoor or outdoor surrounding either by chemical activities, physical or biological agents that alters the natural features of the atmosphere. There are many different types of air pollutants, such as gases (including ammonia, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrous oxides, methane and chlorofluorocarbons), particulates (both organic and inorganic), and biological molecules.