In an overflowing hall of the Telstar stadium, about three hundred IJmond residents attended the information evening, which was entirely devoted to the long-awaited RIVM report on the health risks caused by emissions from the blast furnaces. The report previously showed that people in the IJmond and especially in Wijk aan Zee live shorter on average due to Tata Steel’s emissions: about 2.5 months.
The IJmond municipalities, the province of North Holland and the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management (IenW) are holding the information meeting for concerned citizens. “We already knew, thanks to previous research since the 1970s, that the blast furnaces caused health damage. Now we are more than fifty years later and still nothing has been done. People have waited so long and we must now take action for our health,” says one of the visitors.
Not everyone at the information evening is afraid for their health. A visitor from Velsen-Noord has a bright view of the future: “When I hung out the laundry ten or twenty years ago, it was black the next day, I haven’t seen that for a while now. Moreover, the blast furnaces provide a lot of employment .”
To make demands
During the busy evening, the State Secretary for Infrastructure and Water Management, Vivianne Heijnen, said that she could currently carry out few concrete actions as the outgoing cabinet, but did announce a Health Expert Group at the information evening. The group, which includes a professor of medicine, a professor of air quality and a toxicologist, must closely monitor the health risks posed by Tata for the ministry and provide the ministry with advice. Heijnen also says he is happy with the RIVM report because “it allows us to monitor, set requirements and enforce.”
Close immediately
Earlier in the evening, the State Secretary received a petition from Greenpeace. According to the environmental organization, almost forty thousand people indicated that “the most polluting parts of Tata Steel should be closed immediately.”
Hans van den Berg, CEO of Tata Steel, also responded to the publication of the report during the meeting: “We are very aware of the concerns that exist and are very motivated to change that. I say this as CEO and as a resident of the IJmond. And I hope that together we can take the steps towards a cleaner steel company in a healthier IJmond.” For the time being, the CEO left unclear what steps would have to be taken.