Frank Dales.© Archive photo
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Robbert Minkhorst
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IJmuiden
Tata Steel’s current permits must be ‘tightened in the short term’. That is what the Mayor of Velsen Frank Dales said on Saturday evening in the TV program ‘Nieuwsuur’.
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Dales was a guest in the studio to talk about the RIVM report on air pollution in the IJmond, for which the steel company is held responsible. “A blow to the residents,” said the mayor of the findings. Exactly the same words used the Beverwijk alderman Brigitte van den Berg in this newspaper on Friday.
According to Dales, measures are ‘needed in the short and long term’. He wants Tata to switch to hydrogen for steel production in a few years’ time and for the national government to subsidize this transition.
cleaner
But Tata has to start producing cleaner earlier, by tightening the existing permits. The mayor’s statement is striking in itself. The municipality of Velsen is not responsible for granting or controlling permits, that is the province of North Holland. It is also unclear whether the current permits can be amended. The Velsen alderman for the environment, Sebastian Dinjens, said in this newspaper on Friday that Tata’s production process ‘is licensed’, which means that the IJmond is dependent on the steps that the company itself is prepared to take.
Health
Dales also discussed the significance of the steel industry for the IJmond in ‘Nieuwsuur’. Tata must stay, the mayor said bluntly. At the same time, the discussion about the company has changed. “It was Tata and employment first. Then Tata and environment. Now Tata and health. Our children should be able to grow up healthy.”
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