IJmond’s living environment must be improved | News item

News item | 22-09-2023 | 2:30 PM

It is the first time that the most relevant health consequences of Tata Steel’s emissions have been mapped out. Until now, parts have always been removed. This study looked at the entire chain, from chemical emissions to health risks in the living environment. Annoyance, such as noise, odor and dust, was also examined.

RIVM conclusions

The research shows that a large proportion of IJmond residents experience nuisance due to dust, odor and noise. Due to exposure to particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide, residents of Wijk aan Zee are expected to live an average of 2.5 months shorter.

The RIVM has calculated that approximately 4% of future cases of lung cancer in Wijk aan Zee can be attributed to particulate matter emissions from the Tata Steel site. Exposure to nitrogen dioxide increases the risk of asthma in children up to 18 years of age. Here too, the effect is greatest in Wijk aan Zee: approximately 3% of future cases are related to current emissions.

Living environment must be better

State Secretary Heijnen: “The RIVM provides insight into how people can become ill due to Tata Steel’s emissions. Those are serious conclusions. I can imagine that people who live in the IJmond are shocked by this. This situation is not acceptable and must improve. The research helps us to continue working on improving the living environment around the company, together with the province and Tata Steel itself. As a government, we have a duty of care to ensure that people live in a clean and healthy environment, so that is a task for the cabinet.”

The report shows that it is important to take measures to further reduce nuisance (odor, dust and noise) and air emissions (particularly particulate matter and nitrogen oxides) in the living environment.

The government is therefore doing four things:

1. Together with the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy, IenW is working on tailor-made agreements for Tata Steel. In these tailor-made agreements, the health of local residents is given a much more prominent place.
2. The government will investigate where supervision and enforcement can be improved, and work with the province of North Holland to see where permits can be tightened.
3. State Secretary Heijnen is working on stricter standards for industry and clean air in Europe.
4. The government wants stricter standards for the industry to better safeguard the health of local residents. The government will return to this in its response to the OVV report “Industry and Local Residents”. The government is setting up an expert group specifically for Tata Steel to determine where stricter standards are needed.

Expert group

This expert group will advise the State Secretary on the question of how much environmental and health gain is needed to limit health risks in the IJmond. And where standards can and should be stricter to achieve greater health gains. The living environment in the IJmond currently meets the standards, but the RIVM report shows that there are nevertheless serious health effects.

The cabinet can determine protection goals based on the advice of the expert group. These are, for example, standards about when the air quality is healthy enough. In order to achieve the protection goals, Tata Steel will need to implement improvements. We want to achieve this by, among other things, making tailor-made agreements with Tata Steel, together with the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy.

Next Monday, State Secretary Heijnen will present this new expert group. This includes ten scientists with relevant expertise, for example doctors and professors in the field of toxicology and air quality. Involved local residents of Tata Steel are involved in the selection of the experts.