Nearly forty thousand people are in favor of closing the most polluting parts of Tata Steel. This is evident from a petition that Greenpeace presented to State Secretary Vivianne Heijnen of Infrastructure and Water Management this evening, during a well-attended information evening in the Telstar stadium.
Tonight, the IJmond municipalities, the province of North Holland and the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management (IenW) are holding an information meeting for concerned citizens. Although the evening has the broad theme of ‘industry and health’, the overall expectation is that it will mainly focus on the explosive report from the RIVM. It shows that people in the immediate vicinity of the steel factory live on average 2.5 months shorter. People would also become ill more quickly due to Tata Steel’s emissions.
Sickening installations
According to Greenpeace, the petition with forty thousand signatures has a clear purpose. “We blame Tata Steel for the fact that much of this health damage could have been prevented if the most outdated and disease-causing installations had been closed earlier. This must still be done, and we call on the government to quickly enforce this,” said Faiza Oulahsen of Greenpeace.
Inhabitants
Residents of Wijk aan Zee previously responded in front of the NH camera that they often felt “double”. For example, the blast furnaces would have provided a lot of employment, but at the same time there is concern about health. “I am happy that the damage has been identified,” said Hans Dellevoet of the Wijk aan Zee village council about the RIVM report. Sanne Walvisch from the FrisseWind foundation adds: “I am still as worried as I was yesterday.”
Exciting evening
It promises to be an exciting evening in IJmuiden, because there is the opportunity for IJmond residents to ask questions about ‘health and industry’, and therefore also about Tata Steel’s emissions. In addition to State Secretary Vivianne Heijnen, Provincial Executive Jeroen Olthof and the aldermen of the IJmond municipalities are also present at this meeting.