WRITTEN QUESTION E-2515/98

by Gianni Tamino (V) to the Commission

(30 July 1998)

Subject: Pollution from the Ostiglia and Sermide-Carbonara Po electrical power stations (Italy)

In the localities of Ostiglia, Sermide and Carbonara Po (Mantua province, Italy), two electrical power stations belonging to ENEL (the national electricity company) operate at a distance of about 10 km from one another, each having a power of approximately 1 300 MW. The Ostiglia station, which has existed since the early 1970s, burns dense combustible oil at 50 %, despite not using any type of filter on its flues (for practical reasons relating to lack of space). The Sermide-Carbonara Po station, which has been in operation since the beginning of the 1980s, has a single electrostatic filter and burns dense combustible oil at 80 %. An agreement has existed since 1975 between ENEL and the municipalities of Sermide and Carbonara Po obliging ENEL to install a complete set of filters, but the company has never done so. Between 1988 and 1996, according to figures supplied by the Inter-authority Health and Prevention Office of Mantua (PMIP), the two power stations together emitted an annual average of 37 100 tonnes of SO2, 21 500 tonnes of NOx and 1 600 tonnes of dust. They are also responsible for the following annual quantities of heavy metals: 41 tonnes of vanadium, 35 tonnes of nickel, several hundred tonnes of zinc, some dozen tonnes of lead and a few tonnes of chromium and cadmium. These quantities alone accounted for 30 % of the sulphur dioxide and 100 % of the heavy metals produced in 1996 by the 299 Italian chemical companies which are members of "Federchimica". The local health authorities have drawn attention to unusually high levels of chronic bronchial and lung diseases involving tumours and of birth defects. Annex 3 to the Italian ministerial decree of 12 July 1990 incorporating Directive 88/609/EEC of 24 November 1988(1) allows ENEL an extremely long transitional period for adapting its installations: it is obliged to comply with the emission ceilings of the decree at all its plants only by the end of 2002. As a result, the Sermide power station is still authorised to emit as much as 3 100 mg/mc of SO2, 1 050 mg/mc of NOx and 100 mg/mc of dust, although the maxima laid down in the decree are, respectively, 400, 200 and 50 mg/mc (data supplied by the PMIP in February 1998).

Does the Commission not consider the length of the transitional period for adapting these two ENEL plants to be contrary to the spirit of Directive 88/609/EEC? Does it intend to take action to speed up the adaptation of the two power stations to the permitted emission limits and to demand, to this end, an assessment of the impact of the two plants on the environment and on human health, pursuant to Directive 85/337/EEC(2)?

Does the Commission not consider it necessary, under Article 169 of the EC Treaty, to take out infringement proceedings against Italy for failure to comply with Article 130r of the EC Treaty in relation to the protection of human health and the principles of precautionary action against environmental damage and preventive action in the environmental field?

Answer given by Ms Bjerregaard on behalf of the Commission

(30 October 1998)

Directive 88/609/EEC on the limitation of emissions of certain pollutants into the air from large combustion plants imposes limit values on emissions for new plants only, i.e. those authorised after 1 July 1987. For plants that existed before that date, the only constraints concern sulphur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions, on which there are national ceilings for all the "existing" plants concerned (Article 3).

It is for the national authorities to impose on each plant, in the light of its specific characteristics, the emission level they consider best complies with the national reduction programme drawn up to ensure that the ceilings are not exceeded. From this strict viewpoint, the Commission cannot call into question the adaptation programme for individual plants where an overall national programme has been established leading to compliance with the emission ceilings provided for by Directive 88/609/EEC. This is the case where Italy is concerned.

It is also the national authorities' responsibility to ensure that the emissions of each industrial plant do not impair the quality of the air in the vicinity of these plants.

The Commission draws the attention of the Honourable Member to the fact that Council Directive 85/337/EEC of 27 June 1985 on the assessment of the effects of certain public and private projects on the environment concerns only projects approved after 3 July 1988 and cannot be applied retrospectively. Consequently the project mentioned cannot be considered as covered by the Directive.

As to the last question, the Commission would stress that Article 130r of the EC Treaty cannot be taken as a legal basis for the initiation of infringement proceedings under Article 169. As stated by the Court of Justice in case C-379/92, Article 130r is confined to defining the general objectives of the Community with regard to the environment.

(1) OJ L 336, 7.12.1988, p. 1.

(2) OJ L 175, 5.7.1985, p. 40.