A Showdown In Italy Over A Polluting Steel Plant

In an effort to safeguard some 20,000 jobs at a time of rising unemployment,
the Italian government has taken an unprecedented step. It has reversed a court order that called for the partial shutdown of Europe’s biggest steel plant because it spews cancer-producing dioxins.

The ILVA steel factory in the southern port city of Taranto pits the government versus the judiciary in a battle over health issues and the need for economic revival.

Taranto’s skyline is dotted with giant cranes and the red-and-white striped smokestacks of the plant, which belches dark clouds of polluting smoke for miles around.