Earlier this month, I had two posts about the Ilva steel plant at Taranto (Puglia), its health threats for local residents, and the Monti government's efforts to provide for clean up while keeping open what has been Europe's largest steel producer.
Back in July, in the face of high rates of cancer and respiratory disease and years of inaction on the part of the plant owners, the local public prosecutor seized the plant. At the beginning of December, the Monti government enacted a "salva Ilva" measure, legislative decree 207, under which the plant is to be permitted to continue to operate while it undertakes clean-up measures. At the time, the prosecutor had said his office would challenge this measure as interfering with his authority and now he has done so.
On December 20, the Taranto prosecutor filed with the Italian Constitutional Court a plea to set aside the 207 decree. The prosecutor's office only announced the action yesterday. The suit maintains that the decree interferes with the magistrates' authority to carry out investigations of Ilva directors and to apply penal sanctions. A decision from the Constitutional Court is expected within the next six weeks.
The legal issues are serious and deserve to be resolved. In the meantime, Taranto residents must wonder when their issues will be addressed, let alone resolved.
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