Tata Steel may be even more damaging to locals' health in transition to cleaner steel
The health damage Tata Steel causes to locals living around its IJmuiden factory may well increase in the coming years as the company transitions to making greener steel, the Health Expert Group warned in its first report to State Secretary Vivianne Heijnen. It urged the government not to give the steel factory the billions in support it will need to survive the sustainability transition unless it guarantees locals’ health. Closing the Coking Gas Factory 2 as quickly as possible could be one way of doing that, the group of experts said.
Tata Steel wants to make cleaner steel in IJmuiden by 2030. To achieve that, one of the two blast furnaces will close in 2030, and an electric furnace will take its place. Because that will then require less coal, the outdated and polluting Coking Gas Factory 2 can also close by then. But in the transition phase, 2050-2030, the new installations will be built and tested while the old installations continue to operate.
“It is likely that the burden on the health of residents of the IJmond will increase in these years compared to the current situation,” wrote the Health Expert Group, which was set up late last year to provide advice on Tata Steel’s impact on locals’ health. The group consists of experts in environmental chemistry, toxicology, outdoor air pollution, health law, and medicine.
“A transition phase of six years is far too long,” the expert group said. It advocates for accelerating the plans significantly “so that clear improvement in air quality and health effects resulting from Tata Steel Nederland is achieved before 2030.” Closing the Coking Gas Factory 2 quickly could contribute to that.
It pointed out that the current situation is far from desirable. Last year, the RIVM established a definite link between Tata Steel emissions and locals’ poor health. Residents of Wijk aan Zee live 2.5 months shorter as a result of the steel factory’s activities, for example. “We are of the opinion that the RIVM underestimates the actual effect of Tata on the health of the population,” the experts said, listing all kinds of factors the RIVM report did not take into account.
The experts want the government to use its negotiations with Tata Steel on financial support for the sustainability transition to force the company to guarantee locals’ health. “Residents of the IJmond must have the same chance of good health as residents of the Netherlands who have not been exposed to this industry.” In recent years, both Tata and various levels of government have waved their concerns away. It is time to step up and fix that, the experts said.
The expert group advised the government and Tata Steel to draw up a “Health Impact Report,” in addition to an environmental impact report, to clearly show the factory’s absolute emissions of harmful substances and how Tata’s future plans will impact them. The group also urged Tata Steel to implement much more ambitious measures to reduce nuisance as a sign of goodwill to locals.
The government will definitely impose requirements for locals’ health when discussing its proposed investments in Tata Steel, outgoing State Secretary Vivianne Heijnen said to ANP in response to the report. She did not want to elaborate on what requirements before studying the advice. She did note that the requirements must be “feasible” for Tata. “We also want to try to maintain steel production in the Netherlands.” But requirements regarding safeguarding locals’ health will get a “full place’ in the agreement, she assured the news wire.
