CROTONE The Calabria Region did not take a position against the disposal of poisons in Crotone present in the industrial area of the Pythagorean city. In his speech at the Preliminary Services Conference, held yesterday in Rome, according to reports, would have reiterated that it will comply with the content of regional legislation in the field of waste management. He therefore referred to the new regional waste plan recently approved by the Calabria regional council.
Plan
Said Plan, on pages 370 to 375, establishes the location criteria and states that “for all existing plants, as part of the renewal or review procedure with renewal value, the location criteria will in any case be considered for the purpose of issuing the requirements necessary to mitigate or compensate for any critical issues”.
It further states that “in areas where the location of waste management plants is excluded, the exercise of authorized operations will be permitted for the duration of the authorization itself, evaluating the possible renewal or review with renewal value on the basis of the possible negative interactions deriving from the permanence of the system in relation to the excluded localization criterion detected”. In chapter 32.2 (page 372) it even identifies what should be the “exclusion from the field of application of the location criteria of landfills for permanent safety and waste treatment plants built in the area subject to reclamation and intended exclusively for reclamation operations of contaminated sites”. This is the case of Crotone, where a reclamation intervention is planned.
The Services Conference
The decision-making Services Conference of 24 October 2019 had sanctioned cthat the poisons present in Crotone should be disposed of outside the territory of the Calabria region. In this choice he had taken into account the fact that the environmental situation of the Pythagorean city had exceeded the limits to guarantee the survival of the inhabitants. The ratio applied took into account the health to be guaranteed to citizens. Eni subsequently questioned the decision taken on 24 October 2019 and proposed disposing of the poisons in Crotone. In the first instance it proposed the creation of a landfill in the Giammiglione area (immediately rejected), in the second instance it proposed the creation of a purpose landfill within the industrial site of the former Pertusola sud (also rejected on 9 February 2023) and now proposes to dispose of the poisons in the Columbra landfill owned by the Vrenna group. Reading the contents of the new regional waste plan, which modifies the one approved at the time of the administration led by Mario Oliverio, one immediately gets the impression that the regional council is in line with Eni’s plan to leave the poisons in Crotone. The position taken yesterday by the Region would confirm this idea. The agenda of yesterday’s meeting was to discuss exclusively the destination of the poisons and, therefore, the Region expressed itself in compliance with the law that regulates the matter. The Municipality and Province of Crotone have declared themselves against these hypotheses, and continue to ask for respect for the decisions taken on 24 October 2019. The audience of citizens who have formed themselves into fighting committees are against them. Just yesterday there was a joint meeting of the committees during which it was officially decided to unite the front. Already from today the committees will continue to collect signatures for a petition which will be delivered in the next few days. The voices coming from the committees say that the fighting activities will be multiple and diversified.
