Pollution closes battery plant
Johnson Controls' has been accused of releasing dangerous amounts of lead pollution from its Shanghai battery plant into the local environment.
As a result, China's Environmental Protection Agency has ordered Shanghai Johnson Controls International Battery Co to shut down operations until the end of the year to address the accusations of lead pollution.
The investigation began after 32 children in the local Kangqiao neighbourhood were found to have abnormally high levels of lead in their blood, leading the EPA to make a link with the plant.
The factory, which is a major supplier of lead-acid batteries to China's automakers, has released a statement responding to the accusations in which it claims that it is not the source of the problem and that none of their employees showed any signs of high blood lead levels. Nonetheless, Johnson Controls having already met its lead production quota for the year, has complied with the request to close the plant down. Employees will receive 70% pay until the end of the year.
The auto supplier announced last October that it would spend $118 million to build a third auto battery plant in Chongqing and plans to raise its production capacity to 30 million batteries in China by 2015.
