Two Tata Steel factories immediately under stricter supervision

This article was last updated on June 21, 2023

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About two factories

For example, the number of unusual incidents has almost quadrupled in the past year. It concerns two factories of the steel producer that must comply with environmental requirements as quickly as possible with a view to the health of local residents.

Tata must draw up an improvement plan and report on progress every month. In the event of insufficient improvement, the environmental service says it will take additional measures, such as imposing more penalty payments or withdrawing permits.

No end date

In a coke gas plant, coal is stripped of gas. The environmental service has a letter about outdated installations. There have been complaints about coke gas plant 2 in particular for years, including about odor nuisance.

“Tata Steel now really has to step up,” says a spokesman for the environmental service. “We don’t have an end date for this. We will evaluate at some point. In the first instance we want to see strong improvement.”

A spokesman for Tata Steel says he is surprised at the increased supervision. “Because the intensive supervision that was in place ended in October 2021. In addition, the emissions at one of the two coke gas plants have been halved, and odor and dust emissions have also decreased.”

He does acknowledge that improvement is possible. “But in our view the picture is now distorted: the number of reports about incidents has increased because we have switched to a new measurement method. We want to talk to the Environment Agency soon for a further explanation.”

Occurrences

Tata Steel is required to report incidents that deviate from normal business processes and that may have an adverse effect on the environment. Between June 2022 and June 2023, the environmental service received 1236 reports, compared to 268 reports in the same period a year earlier. Tata Steel previously received a warning for this.

The environmental service explains Tata Steel also a penalty of 160,000 euros. This stems from a declaration earlier this year by the service that the company’s dust monitoring does not meet the legal requirements. As a result, it cannot be determined whether the steel manufacturer complies with the dust emission standard.

Earlier this year, the steel producer already received two fines totaling 110,000 euros. According to the court in Amsterdam, it had been proven that the company had not complied with environmental rules.