The government often responds inadequately to industrial emissions due to a ‘lack of knowledge’ and a missing ‘sense of urgency’, putting the health of its citizens at risk, a new report published by the Dutch Safety Board (DSB) on Thursday states.
The DSB is a non-governmental investigative body focusing on safety matters and accidents. Its report “Industry and Local Residents” investigated how Dutch citizens are being protected from industrial emissions and the role health concerns play in the process.
“Based on its findings, the Safety Board concludes that it is not obvious that the health of residents is adequately protected given the way the system is shaped in practice,” the report reads.
The report is based on three case studies: the Tata Steel mill in Ijmuiden, the Chemours chemical plant in Dordrecht and the APN asphalt plant in Nijmegen. Before the investigations, residents living near all three industrial sites had voiced reservations concerning potential health hazards caused by the sites in question.
The report concludes that the concerns of local residents are often handled in an unsatisfactory manner or outright neglected both by local authorities and the companies themselves. Local authorities and environmental services also often lack the necessary resources to properly process citizens’ complaints.
The report continues that the monitoring and authorisation methods used by the federal authorities often fail to take public health concerns into account and that companies showcase a poignant lack of proactiveness when it comes to renewing or replacing emission permits.
“Due to a lack of knowledge, capacity and sense of urgency, the government often reacts reactively. This allows harmful emissions to continue for a long time,” the DSB states.
Based on its findings, the DSB also made several recommendations to different actors.
It emphasised that qualified local authorities and environmental services should fulfil their responsibilities, and that a more profound knowledge of potential health effects should be developed, which should then be used by government institutions and authorities.
Furthermore, the companies featured in the report should grant more insight and clarity to local residents about potential health hazards and attempt to lower industrial emissions. (Benedikt Stöckl | EURACTIV.com)
Source: euractiv.com
