ArcelorMittal Italia is filing an appeal with the Council of State in response to the latest closure mandate of the hot area in its Taranto plant given by the Court of Puglia.
The order to close the site was initially given by Taranto’s mayor citing pollution violations on February 27, 2020, but the ordinance was suspended on April 24, 2020, by the regional administrative court.
The order led to an appeal by both parties at the administrative Court of Puglia in Lecce’s TAR division this month, which rejected the regional administrative court’s earlier suspension and ruled that the original ordinance be reinstated.
Thus Arcelor Mittal has now appealed to the Council of State to keep the site open. Given the removal of suspension, the 60-day shutdown of polluting plans has been reinstated to the day of publication of the latest TAR sentence.
Mayor Rinaldo Melucci has given the managers of the site, Arcelor Mittal and Ilva, 30 days to identify and address critical elements at the polluting plants in the province. In case of non-compliance in the time frame, it gave 60 days to shut down those plant segments in the hot area including the blast furnace, coking plant, and steel mill.
The Puglia court has upheld this order and has asked the owners and the Ministry of the Environment and Protection of the Territory to make certain reimbursements to the degree of judgment to the city of Taranto.