Ilva, halt plant if dangerous to health
In the notion of pollution both environmental and health damage - Final decision at the Court of Milan
by Giovanni Negri
2' min read
Key points
2' min read
Ilva production must be suspended if the plant proves to be dangerous to health. This will have to be decided by the court in Milan to which many inhabitants of the area bordering the Taranto steel plant have turned to ask for the activity to be stopped. This is the conclusion of the European Court of Justice called upon by the Milan judges to assess the consistency with EU regulations, in particular with the directive on industrial emissions, of the rules that have been put in place over time to ensure the continuity of production.
Extended Interpretation
.In assessing the question, the Court provides an extensive interpretation of the directive, different from that adopted by the Italian Government, arguing that the concept of pollution must include both damage to the environment and damage to health, Where environment and health are central objectives of all Community law, recognised in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.
Evaluation over time
.For the Court, the assessment of the impact of the production of an industrial plant, all the more so if of Ilva's magnitude, almost 11,000 employees on a surface area of 1,500 hectares, on health and the environment must be constant, at the time the initial authorisations for the activity are granted and then in the subsequent course of time.
Complete Examination
.The European judges, in the face of the Milan court's observations that Ilva had been granted an incomplete environmental authorisation, lacking an assessment of the emission of a number of pollutants, warn that the plant operator must provide in its initial application for authorisation full information on the type, extent and potential negative effects of the emissions that may be produced by the installation. An omission is only possible, the ruling makes clear, for pollutants with no health effects.
Production under scrutiny
.Moreover, contrary to the assertions of Ilva and the Italian Government, the review procedure cannot set limit values for pollutants whose emission was foreseeable. Instead, what is required is a greater adherence to the reality of production, to the substances actually emitted by the plant during its operation for all pollutants generated.
