Former Minister Appointed Administrator of ILVA

Former minister Mario Monti has been selected as commissioner for the ill-fated ILVA steel mill in southern Italy, which is at the center of the debate on health and the environment.

Piero Gnudi, who headed the Ministry of Sports and Tourism from November 2011 to April 2013, said that Enrico Bondi, whose term as special commissioner to oversee the management of the largest steel mill in Europe has ended, has been replaced by a new manager.

The ILVA plant has attracted global attention for many years due to the serious health problems of the local population. The Monti government put forward a culminating conservation plan for the ILVA plant in late 2012, outlining measures to help the plant survive and save as many as 20,000 jobs while cleaning up the environment.

Part of the ILVA facility in Taranto was seized by the court to cover some of the costs of cleaning up the environment and to satisfy claims for damages related to the high rate of diseases in the area, which persist to the present. Two weeks ago, prosecutors in Taranto said they were investigating cases of thyroid cancer among factory workers.

Currently, the Taranto court has found more than twenty former managers of the ILVA plant, who are believed to be guilty of emissions of carcinogens during the production process associated with deaths and diseases in the port city of Italy.