ArcelorMittal Italia, Italy’s largest steelmaker, is calling on the Italian government to change the current text of the Crescita law decree that will cancel the steelmaker’s criminal immunity as regards pollution. Without the change it is impossible to manage the former Ilva, ArcelorMittal stated.
According to the Crescita law, as also announced by Minister Luigi Di Maio in Taranto, immunity ends on September 6. The Crescita law decree removes the legal safeguards existing when ArcelorMittal agreed to invest in the Taranto plant. “These safeguards are necessary until the company has completed the environmental plan to avoid incurring liability for issues that it did not create,” ArcelorMittal said.
“If ratified as currently drafted, the provision concerning the Taranto plant would impair any operator’s ability to operate the plant while implementing the environmental plan approved by the Italian Government in September 2017, including for ArcelorMittal,” ArcelorMittal stated, stressing that the Taranto plant cannot be operated without legal protection until the environmental plan is fully implemented.
The decree is to be ratified into law by June 29.
The Taranto mill has been under seizure since 2012 due to pollution. ArcelorMittal has planned to invest Eur1.15 billion on its environmental plan “to address the Taranto plant’s long-standing issues.”
— Annalisa Villa
