A new program must give the province, as supervisor of Tata, new weapons to prevent nuisance from Substances of Very High Concern (ZZS) to contain for residents of the factory. If Tata Steel doesn’t stick to its own plans road map to reduce harmful emissions, the province will soon be able to punish Tata.
RIVM recently concluded in two reports that Tata causes a harmful amount of PAHs (carcinogens) and lead in the region. These substances increase the risk of cancer and brain damage. RIVM also concluded that the emissions of some substances are much greater than Tata itself thought.
That should change, many believe, including Tata Steel itself. In the so-called Roadmap Plus There are plans by Tata Steel itself to reduce the nuisance of noise, odor and those harmful substances in the environment. The project should be completed in 2025. Much of those plans are ‘extra-legal’, Tata is not required to do so by law or license.
That is now partly changing. Due to national agreements, Tata Steel, like other Dutch companies, had to submit a so-called ‘Avoidance and Reduction Program ZZS’ to reduce emissions. Last week, the province, which oversees Tata, reviewed and accepted that plan, despite it still having some loose ends.
As a result of the program, some of the Roadmap’s measures to reduce emissions of PAHs, lead and other heavy metals are not just a sympathetic effort on the part of Tata Steel; they are now also mandatory.
Progress on paper
That can be seen as a step forward. At the same time, in practice nothing will change for local residents. The company’s emissions or plans remain the same. For the time being, it is mainly progress on paper.
Most of the plans from the Roadmap should be completed by next year. Because these are now mandatory as a result of the ZZS reduction program, the province can punish Tata Steel if the emissions are not reduced in the future.
Feet in the earth
And while that may seem like a small improvement, it was quite a work in progress. The North Sea Canal Area Environment Agency (ODNZKG), which oversees Tata on behalf of the province, must sometimes feel like someone in a dream trying to run very hard, but only having difficulty getting one leg for the other.
The service may want to quickly draw up much stricter rules for Tata, but that is sometimes simply not possible, due to all kinds of national or European emission standards, laws and assessment frameworks, or surprisingly, a lack of them.
The ODNZKG wanted to assess the ZZS reduction plan as soon as possible, he says: “The service considers it irresponsible to wait with that in view of the heavy load on the area around the steel factory.”
But that was not easy: despite the fact that Tata was obliged to hand in this reduction program, the ODNZKG did not yet have all the right instruments to properly assess it. A so-called ‘national assessment framework’ for checking the ZZS plans of Dutch companies in general is still lacking.
That is why the ODNZKG, together with other environmental services and the national Human Environment & Transport Inspectorate (IL&T), has drawn up a framework itself and assessed Tata’s programme.
Norms do not exist yet
But that did not solve all problems. ODNZKG wants to impose a suitable standard on Tata for all different ZZS. To this end, central government and RIVM must determine a ‘maximum permissible risk level’ for each substance.
According to the province, this has not yet happened for “most ZZS”, despite the fact that it is crucial to be able to keep Tata from the permit according to standards. In addition to the program, the province says that it will continue to urge central government and RIVM to derive standards urgently.
The ‘ordinary’ IJmonder experiences health risks
The greening and clean-up campaign has clearly started for some time, with the short-term clean-up plans from the Roadmap and the construction of new, clean factories according to ‘the hydrogen route†
And that, according to many, is on the one hand a good thing. However, there is much debate about whether the plans have come on time.
Critics believe that short-term plans also take too much time: until the Roadmap has been fully implemented in 2025, and until the ‘hydrogen route’ has been completed in 2050, ‘normal’ IJmonders will still experience health risks due to, among other things, ZZS from the factory site.