After the Regional Administrative Court for Calabria, the Council of State has also accepted the reasons of the Port System Authority of the Seas Southern Tyrrhenian and Ionian Sea, rejecting the appeal on appeal proposed by the Società Petrolifera Gioia Tauro (SPGT) in the against the Port Authority, which had rejected the requests for concession submitted by the company in 1995 for the construction of a coastal depot for the storage of oils minerals (gasoline and diesel) with a capacity of 40 thousand cubic meters Organized in 14 tanks. The Council of State - highlighted the AdSP, commenting on the pronouncement of Palazzo Spada - judged 'It is entirely legitimate to refuse a private application which, through public funding pursuant to Law No. 488, sadly known in the Calabrian territory, she would have liked to realize a settlement devoid of public interest in an area with obvious seismic risk, so much so that the complex preliminary procedure had not been never perfected over the decades."

The case began in 1995 when the SPGT filed an application concession to the Port Authority of Reggio Calabria. After in 1997 the Maritime Authority expressed itself with a partial acceptance and came to the conclusion of an act of submission which provided for the concession by the public administration of the possibility to start the works, with the reservation of blocking them in the face of the negative outcome of the investigation, also defining its the consequent and total assumption of responsibility by the of the private sector. After signing the interim deed in 1998, the Company Petrolifera Gioia Tauro began work while the administrative, by competence, passed to the instituted Port Authority of Gioia Tauro. Being in a phase of submission, the preliminary process proceeded with the involvement of the Superior Council of Public Works which, in proof of the complexity of the matter, between 1998 and 2001, expressed itself in various pronouncements, requesting additions structural deficiencies in the tanks (for the which had not been envisaged for the construction of a containment at the base of the tanks for the protection of the and the lack of design of an approach for the barges.

This led to the first halt in 2000 imposed by the Harbour Master's Office of Gioia Tauro which, in acquiring the resolutions of the Council of Public Works, highlighted the lack of correspondence between what was achieved and what has been designed. But in the following year, the Superior Council of Public Works authorized the continuation of the works on land and not those relating to the coastal approach, for the which required the company to submit three technical studies: one related to the extreme seismic risk that could be generated from the construction of the work, also considering the seismic belt 1 on which the port of Gioia Tauro falls; It was also requested that the analysis of the consequent modification of the morphology of the coastline, following the possible construction of a coastal approach, and Finally, with the third study, the company was invited to analyze any change that could be made to the morphological nature of the mono-granural sands, due to their own liquefaction. The PSA specified that the SPGT had never responded to these analytical requests made by the Council of Public Works.

In 2004 the Port Authority, in the meantime established, took charge of the concession request and requested SPGT to resume work, which has been at a standstill since 2003. After a thorough In 2006, the Port Authority issued a forfeiture decree for failure to carry out the work, and for non-use of the concession. The latter decision it was also confirmed by the Regional Administrative Court of Reggio Calabria which, when asked by SPGT, dismissed the appeal. But in 2008, the Council of State overturned the court's ruling and annulled the effects of the decree of the Port Authority. From that moment until 2017, No work was done to complete the work. However, after 14 years of inactivity, SPGT made the request completion of the concession process on grounds of urgency. In fact, given the failure to carry out the work, the MISE, holder of the public funding deriving from the note and unproductive Law 488, demanded the return of public money with withdrawal of funding. Once the investigation has resumed, the Authority of the Port System of the Southern Tyrrhenian and Ionian Seas updated administrative practice and asked again for the production documents that have already been repeatedly requested from the company and never Produced. In view of a possible and imminent loss of the funding, SPGT modified the project to reduce the number of tanks, changing the destination of the activity, which from would move to trading only, and assuming a Mooring along the north quay, intended for public use Multifunctional. At that point, the port authority set up a technical table which, in evaluating the new proposal, expressed the and submitted it to the Port Committee which, in In turn, he endorsed the Authority's decision.

The last steps of the affair, in 2021, see the Authority of the Port System to take the decision of rejection of the original application, and for lack of planning of the work which, entering into the assessment of merit, due to the absence of public interest of the undertaking in relation to the current set-up of the port of Gioia Tauro. Called into question, in May 2023, the Regional Administrative Court of Reggio Calabria gave full reason to the Port Authority. A decision that was reaffirmed yesterday in the Final Act of the Council of Ministers. State.