According to the Air Quality Index of 2022, eMbalenhle was the second highest on the list of towns with the worst air quality.
Nomia Machebe, Sasol’s manager of media and communications, said they remain relentless in its commitment to legal compliance and ambient air quality improvement.
According to her, the company complied largely in 2014 already with the minimum emission standards (MES – Government Gazette No. R. 893 of 13 November 2013) and progressed its compliance journey to 98% of its emission sources currently being compliant.
“Whilst the majority of the Secunda operations processes comply with the MES limits from the outset, there were selected activities for which the Secunda operations was unable to comply timeously,” said Machebe.
: Sasol capacitates local NPOs in Bronkhorstspruit area
“For these specific cases, the Secunda operations had previously applied for and were granted a postponement of the compliance timeframes to allow for the implementation of the necessary abatement technology to enable compliance.
“The Secunda operations are on track with its air quality compliance roadmaps to achieve compliance with the new plant standards by 1 April 2025 under its atmospheric emission licence conditions that incorporate the postponement decisions.
“The exception to this is sulphur dioxide (SO²) emissions from the boilers at our steam plant. To improve the SO² emissions footprint, Sasol identified a feasible compliance approach through an integrated Green House Gas (GHG) and boiler SO² reduction roadmap.
“This roadmap involves the turning down of boilers to not only reduce SO² emissions but to have a favourable impact on the reduction of other pollutants emitted. “This is the subject of a pending application before the national air quality officer.”
: Sasol responds to allegations of a sinkhole in Ext 22, eMbalenhle
On a question as to what Sasol is doing to minimise air pollution, Machebe said Sasol’s approach to air quality management and ambient air quality improvement is reflected in its SHE Policy.
“This includes our ongoing efforts to prevent pollution and air quality degradation through legal compliance and the application of our duty of care. We follow a risk-based approach to mitigate and improve our atmospheric footprint.”
About the fact that eMbalenhle is the second-highest air-polluted town in the country, Machebe said assuming this reference is made to the 2022 world air quality report compiled by IQAir, it should be noted that Sasol is not privy to the process followed and data used in compiling the report. We can, therefore, not comment on the accuracy of the data.”
She said the State of the Air Report issued annually by the DFFE contains the official view on air quality in South Africa.
