Justice seeks a €100,000 fine for steel group Tata Steel in Amsterdam court for spreading dangerous dust clouds and dumping wastewater. According to the Public Prosecution Service (OM), the IJmuiden steelmaker violated environmental regulations.
The request concerns four lawsuits filed against Tata Steel following investigations between 2018 and 2021.
In two cases there was an unauthorized distribution of dust, in one case this caused black snowfall (February 2021) in the vicinity of the factories. According to the Prosecutor, Tata Steel failed to stop the work which caused the dust to spread.
“In fact, after being closed by order of the supervisors, it was discovered that they had been resumed the next day when they were checked,” writes the OM in a statement.
Another case involved the unlicensed discharge of wastewater into the Outer Harbor via the company sewer system, and the fourth case involved acting without a license and ignoring a regulation in a process involving the cooling of steel slag.
If the environmental rules are violated again within three years, another 50,000 euros should be added, according to the public prosecutor’s office.
Tata Steel herself says in a reply “of regret that these things have happened”.
