SA to ramp up making ventilators
SA companies are ramping up efforts to design and produce medical ventilators, which some Covid-19 patients will need to remain alive.
IN CASES WHERE YOU CAN’T DO THIS, THE MES EFFECTIVELY LEGISLATES OLD PLANT OUT OF COMPLIANCE
MANY MAY FEEL THAT THIS IS A GOOD THING — IF A PLANT CAN’T MEET MODERN STANDARDS, RATHER SHUT IT
In setting new sulphur dioxide emission limits for some of SA’s dirtiest plants, the government has walked a tightrope few would want to tread — making trade-offs between the survival of critical industries and human health.
Effective April 1, sulphur dioxide emission limits for airpolluting plants have been tightened by more than 70%, but environmental rights groups say the government has effectively legislated 3,300 premature deaths.
Faced with the sudden threat of the Covid-19 pandemic, the government has not hesitated to shut down the economy in a bid to save lives. But regarding the slower-burning issue of sulphur dioxide emissions, which present a comparable dilemma — though over a longer timeline — the approach has been different.
Poor air quality is creating a growing public health crisis, and exposure to sulphur dioxide increases the risk of respiratory illnesses, stroke and even diabetes. Meanwhile, SA’s biggest polluters, monopoly power utility Eskom and synthetic fuel producer Sasol, face enormous challenges operationally and financially, but remain critical industries for the economy.
The ministry of environment, forestry & fisheries had proposed that sulphur dioxide pollution standards would be reduced from 3,500mg per normal cubic metre (Nm3) of emissions to 500mg/Nm3 for plants. But last week, after contemplating the effect on the industry, minister Barbara Creecy gazetted the new standard as 1,000mg/Nm3.
This applies to plants built before 2010 and that will not be decommissioned by 2030. It does not apply to those operations that have already been given extensions for compliance by the national air quality officer.
The standard for plants built after 2010 is set at the more stringent 500mg/Nm3.
Though the Life After Coal campaign contends that the industry has heavily inflated the costs and technical challenges of compliance, the department says it relied on a technical and cost-benefit analysis undertaken by independent scientists including departmental specialists that showed that for Eskom and Sasol to comply with a 500mg limit, each would have to invest significantly.
The minimum emission standards (MES), which set out the sulphur dioxide limits, were promulgated in 2010 and gave existing plants 10 years to meet new standards.
Though that sounds reasonable, there is no technical solution to achieve it, says Ian Sampson, environmental and clean energy law expert at Shepstone & Wylie attorneys.
“In essence the MES require a 1960s VW Beetle to operate like a 2020 Ferrari. In those cases where you can’t do this, the MES effectively legislates old plant out of compliance,” he says.
“Many may feel that this is a good thing — if plant can’t meet modern standards, rather shut it down. However, this applies to some of our largest and most important industries.”
Over the years Eskom and Sasol have succeeded in bringing many applications to delay compliance with the standards.
But Justine Sweet, MargoAnn Werner and Alecia Pienaar, environmental law experts at Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr, say though the sulphur dioxide limit has been increased, it is partly because the potential for multiple postponements has been removed.
“Changes to the MES in November 2018 not only made it impossible to seek multiple postponements for new plant standards beyond 2025 but also made compliance with the existing plant standards a nonnegotiable, meaning that plants that could not meet existing plant standards post 2020 could not apply for postponements or lawfully operate,” they say.
“Postponements were only permissible if these related to new plant standards, and plants that could not meet new plant standards by 2025 were required to submit a plan to decommission by 2030.”
The department said given the financial situation of Eskom and Sasol, the achievement of a 500mg limit in the near future is unlikely. It said it chose “a middle path” that will allow for the progressive achievement of environmental rights and improved air quality for human health, without undermining the viability of industries.
Bobby Peek, director of nonprofit groundWork, questioned how an industry can be truly viable when it depends on legislative amendments that effectively sanction thousands of premature deaths.
The department has asked Sasol and Eskom to commit to a path to vastly reduce their emissions. Sasol has committed to achieve the revised standards by 2025. Eskom has not made a submission.