Refinery owed an apology

EDITOR – I am the current health and wellness representative for Engen Community Stakeholder’s Liaison Forum (ECSLF), which is presently being reconstituted, and have attended their quarterly meetings for the past several years, in which their engineers and other department heads report back on the statistics of events and what is happening at the refinery.

This is documented in a presentation pack for us to provide to various sectors of the community.

It is done faithfully and accurately, accounting for each month and includes for example, any flare ups, information on shutdowns, injuries, and data from the air sampling stations eThekweni municipality has stationed in and around Wentworth, the refinery and other companies’ fence-lines. These are responsible for compiling information about air quality, and captures the chemical content of the air which is fed back to the various industries.

Smell complaints from Engen’s call centre are perhaps at a rate of one or two every second or third month, and these are often found to emanate from another company responsible for the pollution and air smell.

SDCEA is aware of how the air pollution monitoring systems operate. I am sure all at Engen who put in such hard work and financial commitment to keep the community up to speed, feel very insulted and disappointed that organisations feel this way.

From Engen’s CSI meetings and report-backs, they have an incredibly low prevalence of any chemicals that cause cancer, and the protest was extremely offensive. I believe Engen is owed an apology for such a protest and negative coverage.

Perhaps of greater significance concerning cancer in the area, are the types of cancers referred to which Wentworth as a community lends itself to due to high abuse of substances including nicotine addiction, even at schools. The early onset of sexual activity leads to cervical cancer and HIV.

The area does have additional chemicals but it is also bordered by Jacobs, Merebank which house among others Sapref, Sappi and Mondi. After two years of seeing the documented evidence every few months, I, as current and possibly outgoing health and wellness representative for the Engen fence-line communities, can assure readers that these protesters have no justification for their actions. Engen spends a fortune on these meetings to ensure communities are well informed of what transpires within the refinery that could affect the surrounding residents.

SEAN PALFRAMAN

Addiction activist and CEO

Act of Grace 145