‘New air pollution laws will kill thousands,’ say lobby groups

Environmental lobbyists have slammed last-minute changes to new air pollution standards expected to come into effect on Wednesday, which will now allow for double the sulphur dioxide emissions that were originally agreed to.

Minister of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries Barbara Creecy on Friday gazetted an amendment to the minimum emission standards for sulphur dioxide, which aimed to reduce emissions from 3500mg/Nm3 to 1000mg/Nm3 instead of 500mg/Nm3, as had previously been decided on.

“A technical and cost-benefit analysis undertaken by independent scientists – including departmental specialists – has shown that to comply with the standard of 500mg/ Nm3, Eskom and Sasol respectively would have to invest significantly based on the sheer size of the installed boilers and complex integrated systems linked to production of synfuels,” she said in a statement.

“It is clear that given the current financial situation of both Eskom and Sasol, the achievement of this in the near future is unlikely.”

But lobbyists with the Life After Coal campaign – a joint campaign by Earthlife Africa Johannesburg, groundWork, and the Centre for Environmental Rights – said in a statement yesterday that the “substantially more lenient” standards could result in thousands of premature deaths.

“Research presented by the Life After Coal Campaign to the minister and the department has shown that 3,300 premature deaths would be caused by doubling the sulphur dioxide standard – just for Eskom’s coal-fired power stations – as a result of increased risk of lower respiratory infections, increased risk of stroke, and increased risk of death from diabetes,” they said.

They added that approximately 1,000 of these premature deaths would take place in Gauteng.

“The weakening of the standard makes South Africa’s 2020 sulphur dioxide standard – which exists to protect people’s health and human rights – about 28 times laxer than in China, and 10 times weaker than India’s,” the Life After Coal campaigners said.

The minister said in her statement that it was “regrettable that the challenges facing our country in relation to energy security and the state of the economy have resulted in a slower achievement of the desired state of air”.

She said the department had opted for “a middle path which will allow for the progressive achievement of environmental rights and improved air quality for human health, without undermining the viability of key industries”.

But said groundWork’s director, Bobby Peek, air pollution from coal mining and power already killed thousands of people every year.

“Instead of enforcing compliance with our already-weak standards, government has effectively legalised these deaths,” Peek said.

“The department says that it did not want to undermine the viability of key industries. The question is how viable these industries can be when this amendment means that their pollution will be responsible for the premature deaths of thousands of people?”

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