Ilva: in Taranto, the impossible choice between employment and health

By: Pauline Gleize Follow

In southern Italy, the future of Europe's largest steel plant is threatened by ArcelorMittal's desire to withdraw from the site. A site that directly employs 8,200 people, but which is widely criticized for the pollution it causes.

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Chimneys that stand out against a black sky where white doves fly. This is the representation of the city of Taranto by local artist Domenico Campagna. A dark sky "  like when the north wind disperses the dust harmful to health, a dark sky because our mood is dark at the moment,  " he explains.

This installation created on the occasion of the first anniversary of death due to a rare form of cancer in a teenager, Giorgio, is the "  synthesis of the pain experienced by the Tarentines  ", analyzes Francesca Di Ponzio of the CLAM cultural center . "  Cancer is everywhere, and one of the causes is undoubtedly the Ilva which has given us so much well-being, and brought the economic boom in the city  ", but also "pain".

Giorgio di Ponzio died of a clear cell soft tissue sarcoma. Carla Lucarelli, her mother, is convinced that "  100% of her illness was caused by dioxin" because she is "a sentinel tumor in polluted areas  ". So she asked Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte to close the ex-Ilva.

"When production increased, mortality increased"

Giorgio's disease is not an isolated case in the city. "  Scientific studies have shown that in the Taranto area there are an excessive number of cases of certain diseases  ", explains Annamaria Moschetti, president of the commission for the environment of the Order of doctors of Taranto. “ And the impact is greater on the inhabitants of the neighborhoods closest to the industrial zone. These are diseases which have multifactorial origins, but which can be linked to polluting substances. And to list: "  There are, for example, an above-average number of lung tumors, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases." There is also a higher general mortality linked to dust of industrial origin. We have seen that when industrial production increases, general mortality increases. When production fell, mortality decreased. "

Contamination can occur through the respiratory and food routes, or through the dust, especially for children who put their hands in their mouths. If the Sentieri report ( to consult here , in Italian), epidemiological reference study, remains cautious on the mortality rate of children and young people, it highlights a number of cases of cancers above the average. Just one example: between 2006 and 2013, the number of thyroid tumors among 20-29 year olds in Taranto was 70% higher than in the region as a whole.

A fast track as a separation

The concern relates, in particular, to the proximity between the factory and the city. It is by driving on the expressway built overhanging that one realizes best. On the one hand, the steel site, the huge "greenhouse" which recently covers the ore parks, its chimneys. On the other, some trees and the popular Tamburi district.

"  From the highest chimney  " visible from the Tamburi, "  came out to a quantity of dioxin equivalent to 10,000 incinerators,  " says Alessandro Marescotti, president of the Peacelink association, which has been denouncing pollution for years industrial in this city of Puglia.

His guided tour of the neighborhood begins in front of a wall plaque. "  He is inscribed there," he reads: " On north-northwest winds, we are buried under mineral dust and suffocated by the gas fumes from the Ilva industrial zone. For all this, we curse those who can do something and do nothing to remedy it ”.  And to comment: "  Unfortunately, that's exactly what happened. Politics has done little, if at all, nothing at all.  "

Government (s) criticized from all sides

The role played by institutions is disputed on all sides in Taranto. By unions on the one hand and (sometimes) for other reasons, by Alessandro Marescotti. “  The government is putting pressure on ArcelorMittal, which wanted to leave so that it continues to produce, whereas since 2012, the Ilva has produced at a loss. So: we cannot even say that there have been deaths to make a profit ! "

But profit or not, the ex-Ilva which also has a steelworks in Genoa is a heavyweight of the local economy. According to Svimez, the Association for the Development of Industry in the South, a closure would have an impact of 0.2% on the GDP of Italy, 0.7% on the GDP of the south of the boot. The Taranto site has also been classified: a company of "  national strategic interest  ". But, Alessandro Marescotti quipped: “  If it were, it would not have been given to a foreign multinational. "

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"If the Ilva closes, Taranto closes"

However, closure is not necessarily desired by the direct neighbors of the immense industrial area. Lucia Gallo works in a small olive and oil shop, and has always lived in Tamburi. The young woman complains of "  sometimes unbreathable air  " and "  dust on the balconies  ". Closing the Ilva "  it would be of service to everyone  ", she advances, before nuancing: "  but, the people who work there where would they go ? My father worked there for years, I have friends, family, if they are laid off: what do they do ?  A man intervenes: "  Here, we are the living dead. "

Direction the cemetery, bordering the factory, too. A sign of local anger, the name Ilva has been tagged on a road sign indicating the path to take. The florist, Domenico Fumato, also plagues against "Italsider", the old name of Ilva, but he grew up in this district and "  will never leave him  ". He hopes to bring the site up to standard, but not its closure. "  Otherwise, Taranto closes  ".

In fact, according to Svimez, for the period 2019-2024, almost 42,000 direct and indirect jobs are at stake in all of Puglia, a region where unemployment exceeds 16% (Eurostat 2018 data).

" Salva Ilva " decrees

Employment is already threatened by the vicissitudes of the steelworks. In 2012, the hot sector - of which the blast furnaces are a part - was seized as a precaution by the courts. This is followed by multiple so-called “  Salva Ilva  ” decrees to allow the activity to continue. In 2013, the factory was placed in “  special administration  ” by the State. A few years later, an agreement was signed with Arcelor Mittal which took over the site, but not all of its employees, more than 1,600 went through the "  technical unemployment  " box .

The European Court of Human Rights has since found that the state has violated the law. It is not the end of the twists and turns. In November 2019, the "  criminal shield  " (legal protection relating to pollution cases) to which the 5-star Movement was opposed was withdrawn.

It was then that ArcelorMittal decided to break the contract and plunged 8,200 direct employees and thousands of workers in companies gravitating around the steelworks into uncertainty. At the end of January 2020, the Italian government and the Franco-Indian group had not yet concluded their negotiations, while legal action is underway. But, over the past three months, the manufacturer, who did not wish to answer our questions, raised the possibility of cutting thousands of jobs.

Employees are variously worried. "  Either you lose your job or your life, so it doesn't change anything !" One of them resigned. Still leaving the establishment, Giovanni Panariti is more confident about his future. His wish: to make work and environment coincide. Without further revealing himself, he said he knew "  what this cursed evil means." So, if it is mainly linked to the plant, it is normal to do something to reduce  the risks.

One of his colleagues, Daniele D'Amicis assures him that "  improvements have already been made in the 20 years  " that he spent in the factory. The ore parks are also in the process of being covered to prevent dust from dispersing over the surrounding neighborhoods, especially on windy days. A measure deemed " insufficient " by Alessandro Marescotti.

"The government has provided an alibi"

In the meantime, while the future of the site is in the hot seat, the unions regret not being more included in the negotiations. Biagio Prisciano, Deputy Secretary General of the FIM-CISL Local, is all the more worried that in his eyes, the steel giant's plan "  only proposes job cuts and aims simply to close the factory  ". However, he considers that there is no plan B to replace all the workers. On the other hand, "  it is clear that we want a site that respects the environment and health  ".

Even more critical is the approach of Francesco Rizzo, an Ilva worker and departmental coordinator of the USB union. He calls on the government to turn the page on ArcelorMittal. And to declare: "  I did not expect the immediate closure of the factory, because it would have been a drain on jobs. But I would have hoped that on the one hand, a plan would have been drawn up defining the deadlines and the modality for shutting down the polluting installations, and on the other hand a schedule of interventions that the government would make on the territory to stimulate the economy and allow the replacement of people who, little by little, left the factory. "

Investments is also what the president of the province of Taranto, Giovanni Gugliotti, who wants to believe in the possibility of making "green" steel in the city of the two seas, is demanding. But, he prefers to remain cautious, if the Ilva must pollute "  it is clear that it must be closed,  " he believes. Above all, he would like the government to involve local entities more.

A remediation plan in progress

For the moment, the steelworks continues to spit out its vapors and fumes. However, a remediation plan has already been put in place. The special commissioner for sanitation in Taranto, Vera Corbelli has even enlarged the area well beyond the limits set at the start of her mission. Interventions are in progress, or planned with operations of "removal" and "recomposition" of surface parts of the soil, actions on groundwater, or on the "small sea", the inland sea that makes the specific from Taranto.

In this ecosystem where we find, among other things, seahorse colonies, the police station does not carry out invasive interventions, "  we only act in areas where the risk is greater  ", she explains.

But what is the share of pollution caused by the ex-Ilva? Difficult to say according to Vera Corbelli, "  because there is also Eni (a refinery, Editor's note) and other structures. The entire industrial system must account for 30-40% of cases of damage to the environment in Taranto. "

"Ilva: in Taranto, the impossible choice between employment and health". A Great Report by Pauline Gleize. Realization: Pierre Chaffanjon.

(Replay of February 4, 2020)

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