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Italy: European Commission announces two probes into Italy state aid within mining industry

By  |  November 20, 2012

The European Commission has announced the initiation of two probes: the first, into mining company Carbosulcis and whether the $511 million in Italian state aid given to the company were against E.U. policy; and the second, into the “Sulcis project.” Carbosulcis is currently exploiting the Nurazi Figus coal mine. The company received state aid between 1998 and 2010 but the funds were issued without prior Commission review or approval. The “Sulcis project” is a project which Italy plans to subsidize that would hold a Carbon Capture and Storage Demonstration Section, in other words, would hold technology still under development that would absorb carbon emissions. The European Commission began looking into the “Sulcis Project” in 2008 over concerns that the plant operator may gain an unfair competitive advantage over mines which do not receive government subsidies.

Full Content: Fox Business

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