The chain closes with the third no. After the rejections of guardians e of the Prosecutor's Office, also the investigating judge of Taranto Patrizia Todisco rejected the 400 million euro plan presented by the Riva Group - owner of Ilva in Taranto – for the environmental requalification of the iron and steel plant. The group led by Bruno Ferrante had also requested that the plant be able to maintain a minimum production capacity, to allow the company to be able to make further investments. Also in this case the judge received a negative answer.
Todisco is the same magistrate who at the end of July authorized the seizure of Ilva and house arrest for some of its executives. At this point, after the final rejection of the plan, the procedure for shutting down a large part of the plant will continue as indicated by the judicial custodians. The company will then have to submit a new plan according to the indications of the experts appointed by the Public Prosecutor's Office.
"With bitterness we must note that in the plan Ilva undertook to carry out rehabilitation works which in reality were already in the 2003-2004 memorandum of understanding, evidently not respected", wrote the prosecutors in the five pages of negative opinion on the plan Ilva.
“There is no room for downward proposals regarding the interventions to be carried out and the sums to be allocated. The goods at stake, health, life and the environment but also the right to decent work that is not harmful to health, do not allow for bargaining ”, reiterated the investigating judge in his decree which followed the opinion of the prosecutor.
The judicial custodians had asked for the shutdown of a series of plants including steel mills, blast furnaces, coking plants and towers. Instead, the company wanted to shut down just one blast furnace. As for the mineral park, according to the prosecutor's office, an immediately effective solution was needed to prevent the dispersion of dust, while the company's plan envisaged a simple cover.
In 2011 Ilva produced 8,5 million tons of steel, almost 30% of total Italian production.
