ANSA reported that in a move certain to trigger controversy, an Italian Court of Review on August 20th 2012 confirmed an earlier ruling that would essentially halt production at Taranto's ILVA steel plant over pollution concerns.
The announcement is certain to further outrage workers, the company, and even the Italian government, all of whom have been fighting to keep the plant, employing about 12,000, operating in this southern city.
But the confirmation of the August 7th 2012 ruling will please some residents and environmentalists who are concerned about the pollution coming from the plant since 1995.
Earlier this month, prosecutors investigating the environmental concerns had ordered the partial closure of the plant until it is upgraded to meet international standards.
ILVA management interpreted that August 7th 2012 ruling to mean they could continue to operate the plant while making the necessary upgrades to improve operations.
It has warned that closure would not only put the livelihood of its workers in Taranto, which suffers from high unemployment, at risk, but would also put at risk the jobs of many other people in the related supply chain.
However, officials said on August 20th 2012 that the Court of Review has now made clear that it intended for operations to shut down, and has informed ILVA of this. In its lengthy ruling in August, the court noted that the guardians of the plant had a duty to ensure the safety of facilities and apply all necessary measures to monitor emissions.
On August 17th 2012, ILVA announced its plan to put another EUR 56 million towards cleaning up the environment after years of pollution and health abuses.
Mr Bruno Ferrante chairman of ILVA said that "We have already earmarked and financed 90 million euros and we have in mind to finance soon another EUR 56 million for a total of EUR 146 million towards the environment."
Meanwhile, a meeting has been planned for August 21st 2012 in Rome involving Italy's Environment ministry and European Commission's environmental regulators to develop a work plan to oversee monitoring of the ILVA plant by September 30th 2012.
Source - ANSA
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