Ex Ilva, the mayor of Taranto: there is no production without decarbonisation
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Altolà of the mayor of Taranto, Rinaldo Melucci, to the hypothesis that the possibility of decarbonising the production of steel in the former Ilva, now Acciaierie d’Italia, will fade away, moving the project of the pre-reduced plant (a semi-product that will power future electric furnaces of the factory) from the Pnrr, where it has already been financed with one billion, to the Development and Cohesion Fund (il Sole 24 Ore spoke about it in the June 16 edition). Melucci says no to the possibility that the former Ilva, following the cancellation of the pre-reduced project, will focus on the reconstruction of blast furnace 5, which has been shut down since 2015, thus continuing production based on minerals.
Addressing the Ministry of the Environment (Mase in the acronym), Melucci says that «we are at the usual tricks at Mase. With or without Pnrr, it must be a completely decarbonised former Ilva, or no more steel will be produced in Taranto. End of all lucubration.’ “We simply wish to reiterate to the Government and to all the institutional interlocutors – says the mayor of Taranto – that either we will seriously decarbonize or we will never allow any other future for the former Ilva and we will resort to every tool to prevent further damage to the citizens and to the environment. This is now the sentiment of an entire community and there is no going back”.
«The Government has made a commitment on the transition»
“We remain – says the mayor of Taranto – with the recent words of ministers Adolfo Urso and Raffaele Fitto, who, on different occasions, have publicly guaranteed the courage and commitment of the national executive in the direction of a program agreement on the former Ilva, aimed at the closure of polluting sources, the transition to electric ovens and hydrogen, the reconversion of the workforce and local related industries with the leverage of the European funds available for Taranto”. For Melucci, “too many times Mase has inexplicably shown himself to be the department of ArcelorMittal and the market, rather than the head of Italian environmental matters, the desire to cancel the Pnrr on decarbonisation gives us great concern, but unfortunately not a surprise”.
Melucci, again addressing the ministry headed by Gilberto Pichetto Fratin, points out “that without a program agreement for decarbonisation, we will not accept that any fake and superficial review process of the steel plant is conducted in The Hague”. «Given the confusion and indeterminacy that reigns among his collaborators on the matter, at this point we confidently await clarity and an intervention by the Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni – concludes Melucci -. Prolonging this pantomime on Italian steel is equivalent, in addition to continuing to hurt our community, to transmitting the idea outside the country that our industrial system has no programming and no protection».
A production of 2.5 million tons for future electric furnaces
The possibility of moving the financing of the pre-reduced plant from the Pnrr to the Cohesion Fund was also confirmed by sources in the Ministry of the Environment on the basis of what was written by the Sole 24 Ore. However, this possibility has not yet been made official by Dri d’Italia, the public company (wholly owned by Invitalia) which will build the new plant in Taranto with a capacity of 2.5 million tons and which has also the construction of a second “twin” plant, intended however for the private iron and steel industry in Northern Italy (an ad hoc consortium has been set up which will participate in the call for tenders on the “Hard to Abate” measure by 30 June to obtain the second billion available ).
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