“The interventions planned for the adaptation of the plants have almost all been completed and certified”, and “the execution of the remaining interventions is in line with the schedule”. Furthermore, “the post-operam emission scenario (ie the scenario following the implementation of the planned interventions) was estimated and related to an annual production of 6 million tons of steel” and it emerged that “a significant reduction in dust emissions compared to the ante-operam scenario “. Thus the Ministry of Ecological Transition highlights the conclusions of Ispra which in June verified the state of implementation of the environmental plan of the former Ilva (now Acciaierie d’Italia) whose prescriptions are regulated by the Dpcm of September 2017.
Mitigated environmental impact
The plan therefore proceeds towards the conclusion, set for August 2023. The certification of Mite and Ispra (also reported in the Ilva Observatory where the local authorities are also present) arrives a month and a half (May 31) from the no of the Court of ‘Taranto assizes the release from seizure of steel plants. But even a few days (July 26) from the tenth anniversary of their kidnapping, so much so that on July 26 there will be a march “in defense of life and health” which will be followed by the updating of the complaint presented by the promoters. in December 2021 to the judiciary against Acciaierie d’Italia.
But if in July 2012 the investigating judge Patrizia Todisco wrote that “the massive dispersion of harmful substances in the urbanized environment has not caused and continues to cause a serious danger to public health … damage that has materialized in illness events and of death “, and if last May, after the no of the Public Prosecutor’s Office to release from seizure, the college of the Assizes, which confiscated the plants, stated that” the partial implementation of the Aia prescriptions is not suitable for guaranteeing the safety of the plants ” , therefore considering that «the presupposition legitimizing the preventive seizure» is still current, now Mite and Ispra say that we are on the right track to make the Taranto steelworks less impactful.
Interventions worth 700 million euros
Il Mite has already sent to the Ministry of Health the picture that emerged from the assessment “for the health assessments that will make it possible to verify whether, following the implementation of the interventions of the plan, there are situations of health risk”. The statements by Mite and Ispra (which, together with Arpa Puglia, is the operational arm of the ministry) confirm what the company’s top management has said on several occasions about the progress of environmental remediation. Sources close to Acciaierie d’Italia comment on al Sole 24 Ore that “this is a result of the professionalism and relentless commitment of the managers and technicians of Acciaierie d’Italia, who in recent years – despite the difficulties of the pandemic and more recently of the ongoing conflict – have been able to coordinate and enhance the maximum interventions by the main technological partners including Paul Wurth, Primetals, Eni Rewind and Thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions, as well as by the numerous related companies involved in environmental works, against a huge financial commitment that amounted to over 700 million at the end of the 2021 financial year of Euro”.
Transition, with resources of 800 million
The environmental part, however, continues to be observed with great attention by the Municipality of Taranto, also in light of the fact that the area is the recipient of 800 million resources from the Just Fund Transition to ease economic and industrial dependence on fossil sources. . Mayor Rinaldo Melucci has just launched the Observatory for the transition, calling on Arpa Puglia and Asl Taranto to join it. “We will rewrite the relationship with large industry” explains Melucci, specifying that the Observatory’s purposes are “the analysis of the impact of the city easements of the steel plant, the revision of state-owned concessions in use by private individuals who pollute or impoverish the territorial system, provision of tools to protect against individuals who adopt behavior that is harmful to local induced activities, support for the compensation measures ensured by law for residents of the areas most tried by industrial pollution “.