CROTONE «The question we ask ourselves as professionals is: “What ‘remedial’ investment would ENI be willing to make in the area given the considerable savings that would result from this possible and undesirable change in the PAUR?”». This is what we read in a document that the professional associations of the province of Crotone sent to the extraordinary commissioner for reclamation, Emilio Errigo. A joint document signed by the president of the order of engineers, Antonio Grilletta, by the president of the order of architects, Francesco Livadoti, of the college of surveyors, Leonardo Marinello, by the president of the order of industrial experts and graduate experts Raffaele Scicchitano. The document was drawn up following a joint meeting, which was convened to proceed with the evaluation of the intervention plan drawn up by Errigo, and sent for a technical evaluation to the representatives of the professional associations on 5 April. Initially, the commissioner had asked for a response by April 10th. The date for expressing the opinion was then postponed by a few days, because the representatives of the professional associations had considered the time granted to be insufficient. The document drawn up by the highest representatives of the professional associations analyzes the current situation of the Crotone Site of National Interest, starting from the perimeter of the area indicated for reclamation which “on the ground is equal to approximately 884 and of which approximately 544 hectares fall within the province of Crotone in physically distinct areas”. A photograph of the current situation which identifies “a macro-area (of approximately 510 ha), located a few km north of the town centre, in which an area designated for industrial, where over one hundred private entities operate (plants for the production of chemical products, incineration and treatment of waste, plants for the production of energy from biomass, food industries). Within this area there are the three abandoned industrial plants belonging to the company Eni Rewind SpA (formerly Syndial) as well as the former Sasol area subsequently acquired by Kroton Gres 2000 Industrie Ceramiche Srl, which went bankrupt in 2011; the archaeological area of approximately 79 hectares, the coastal strip in front of the industrial area, between the mouth of the Esaro river to the south and that of the Passovecchio river to the north, where the former Pertusola and former Fosfotec landfills and the state-owned river areas are located (approximately 9% of the Crotone site)”. To these is added “an area (of approximately 20 ha) located approximately 6 km south of the town of Crotone, including the landfill for MSW in Tufolo— Flour equal to approximately 7 hectares; L’areas with the presence of catalyzed hydraulic conglomerate (CIC), partly public and partly private for a total of approximately 14 hectares”. Commissioner Errigo invited orders to evaluate the proposed interventions with the expenditure items. The total sum committed to the activities proposed by Errigo is 65,130,087.47. These are the funds that in 2012 the Court of Milan awarded to the city of Crotone as compensation for the environmental damage suffered in 70 years of particularly polluting industrial activities. With respect to Errigo’s proposals, the orders note that “approximately 63% of the economic resources (item 2 of the previous table) are allocated to areas that occupy approximately 2.6% of the SIN areas of Crotone, approximately 27% of the economic resources (item 4 of the previous table) are destined for areas that occupy approximately 1.3% of the Sin areas of Crotone, therefore in total 90% of the economic resources are destined for activities that occupy a total of approximately 3.9% of the surface of the Sin falling within the territory of Crotone”. In this situation emerges “the problem of the strong penalization of private investors, due to the complexity and duration of the process of completing the so-called “characterization” (as well as the costs) which determines a slowdown, and in some cases the renunciation, of make productive investments”. Continuing with the analyses, the presidents of the orders “also note that, for land: approximately 43.8% of the areas falling within the Sin have not been investigated; approximately 4.8% of the areas falling within the Sin have had the characterization plan approved but it has not been carried out”. In light of all this “it can be deduced that overall we have data available on the quality of the land which concerns approximately 51.4% of the surface of the Sin area, while there is no information on the quality of the land of approximately 48.6% of the Sin area, most of which fall within the industrial area of Crotone”. On the basis of current knowledge, the proposal is put forward to “systematise the data of the results deriving from the investigations carried out on the land and groundwater investigated so far” as “the sharing of this data could lead to the drafting of Guidelines for the methods of investigation and intervention on areas not yet investigated, facilitating and attracting new investments from private individuals, currently discouraged by the complexity of the procedures”. As regards, however, “the areas not investigated to date, privately owneda plan of investigations is proposed with the relative elaboration of any risk analysis, in order to facilitate the process for completing the characterizations and favor corporate investments, currently blocked, and the consequent overall and definitive knowledge of the real consistency of the contamination. This could even lead to a redefinition of the perimeter of the Sin areaprobably also in reduction, thus freeing parts of the territory from unnecessary investigations”.
Orders also quantified “the economic commitment for the execution of the activities described above”, which “could be approximately €5,000,000, certainly not a negligible figure, but which could constitute a “facilitator” to attract investments and help alleviate the painful shortage of work in the area”. This part of the analysis concerned the activities that fall within Errigo’s specific skills. The orders also evaluated and “discussed the reclamation activities carried out by private individuals (Eni, ed), also elaborating in this case some reflections that they wish to share with the Commissioner”. In this context they highlighted the issue of the disposal of poisons present in landfills facing the sea, they sent the message that it would be appropriate to respect the contents of the Paur (the waste must be disposed of outside Calabria) and if it were ever decided to dispose of it in Crotone, this it must not have a positive impact (savings) only for Eni. Professional associations have no doubts about this aspect.
Corriere della Calabria is also on WhatsApp. Enough click here to subscribe to the channel and always be updated
