The IJmond municipalities of Velsen, Beverwijk and Heemskerk bang their fists on the table. ‘Hurry up with stricter rules for Tata Steel for a healthy IJmond’, is the gist of a letter to the new House of Representatives. The municipalities also demand a place at the table when the government and the company make agreements. “Social support for the Tata Steel company in its current form is under pressure,” they believe.
The Tata Steel IJmuiden industrial estate is so large that it is spread over three IJmond municipalities: Velsen, Beverwijk and Heemskerk.
But those municipalities do not have much say about the company: all permits, which concern, for example, emissions, noise or odor of the company in the area, are checked by the North Sea Canal Area Environmental Service (ODNZKG).
The ODNZKG is an agency of the province of North Holland, but the province in turn says it needs the government to make the permits for Tata’s emissions stricter.
But despite the fact that the IJmond municipalities have little say about Tata Steel, it is their residents who suffer from the nuisance of the company.
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Last month, Tata Steel presented its adapted greening plan. The two classic blast furnaces will be replaced by new, cleaner furnaces around 2030 and 2040. By 2045, virtually all nuisance and polluting emissions should be a thing of the past.
The municipalities are happy with this, but they believe that the pace needs to be accelerated. With today’s letter they are chasing the government: “There is finally a prospect of a substantial improvement of the living environment in the IJmond. But then we must now take action expeditiously.”
The municipalities want the government to make agreements with Tata Steel as quickly as possible about sustainability and the associated financial support. And what’s more, the mayors of IJmond want to have a seat at the table.
‘Health regulations are lagging behind’
In these agreements, public health in the IJmond must be number one, the IJmond municipalities believe: “Legislation and regulations in the field of the environment are lagging behind and do not sufficiently protect the health of local residents,” they write, referring to a devastating report from the Dutch Safety Board (OVV) earlier this year.
The municipalities also want all improvement promises from Tata Steel to be recorded in agreements, so that the company cannot go back on them without obligation.
It sounds like old wine in new bottles, but never before have municipalities pounded their fists on the table towards other governments.
“There is a future for Tata Steel in IJmuiden, but only if it goes together with a healthier, sustainable and safe IJmond,” the municipalities write.
“It is important that pollution and nuisance are reduced as quickly as possible, the steel industry in the IJmond is greened and made more sustainable as quickly as possible, and the most polluting factories (such as the Kooksgasfabriek 2) are closed as quickly as possible. The residents of the IJmond deserve a substantial cleaner and healthier living environment where there is sufficient work, by 2030 at the latest. This urgently requires the efforts of all parties involved, and explicit choices are needed.”