Acciaierie Italia, the
government-controlled company that has taken over the former
ILVA steel group, is ready to present a proposal for a "green
steel" ecological transition project at its controversial plant
at Taranto in Puglia, which has been dogged by cancer-causing
pollution woes.
The announcement came after the Council of State, Italy's
highest administrative court, quashed a regional administrative
court's ruling to shut down the plant.
Industry Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti welcomed the ruling saying
an industrial project to clean up and boost production, saving
jobs, could now move forward.
A court on May 31 sentenced former steel kings Fabio and Nicola
Riva to 22 and 20 years in jail respectively for the
"environmental disaster' caused by the then ILVA steelworks in
the southern city.
The pair are the former owners and directors of the plant, whose
emissions have been linked to high cancer rates in the area.
They were convicted of criminal association to cause an
environmental disaster and poisoning of food substances, among
other things.
Former Puglia Governor Nichi Vendola was sentenced to a
three-year term in relation to the case.
The former ILVA plant was once Europe's largest steel works and
is still the largest employer in southern Italy.
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