Video
GEORGE NEWS & VIDEO - George Herald received a video from Jimmy Smit, a concerned resident, showing thick smoke being emitted from a boiler of MTO in George on Saturday 24 September.
A few days later, on Thursday 29 September, he said the same happened. He said some days thick, black smoke is also emitted.
He wanted to know if these highly concentrated emissions are not in contravention of air pollution regulations.
Marillia Veldkornet, communications officer of Garden Route District Municipality (GRDM), said the incident on Saturday was an upset condition and not the norm, caused by a power supply failure of the programmable logic controller (PLC) of the boiler.
"It was and might, in the future, happen again because of the frequent interruption of the power supply caused by load-shedding. The PLC has been restored and no further upsets took place. MTO has a good track record with regard to air quality compliance with GRDM."
VIDEO: Supplied
The municipality responded as follows to the newspaper's questions:
What are the regulations pertaining to emissions pollution?
The Air Quality Act makes provision for upset conditions and for start-up and shutdown conditions. In terms of upset conditions, the Act allows for 18 minutes of black smoke emissions in an eight-hour shift.
The regulations vary between the type of industry. If it is a listed activity in terms of Section 21 of the Air Quality Act, then the minimum emission limits will apply in terms of their atmospheric emission licence. If it is a small boiler, then the local municipality air quality by-law will apply.
Is licensing needed and if so, what are the requirements for a licence and how are factories regulated?
Normally the factory would be licensed through an atmospheric emission licence (AEL) issued to the facility by the GRDM. The wood-drying industry, however, took the matter of licensing to the High Court and according to the judgement, wood dryers using an external source of heat was delisted and don't require and AEL anymore.
GRDM, however, is still in contact with the wood dryers and they also still comply with the conditions of their historic AELs. They also still conduct emission testing and report it to the GRDM.
Additionally, MTO continues to participate in the Garden Route Air Quality working group meetings and attends them on a quarterly basis. They also report back to the meeting by means of the GRDM air quality electronic information portal.
These reports inform the GRDM Air Quality Unit of incidents such as on the video and mitigation measures to rectify the situation. It also reports on complaints received and emissions reports, etc.
How many emissions licences have been issued in George? How often are the licence holders inspected?
In George, five emission licences have been issued. Inspections depend on the type of industry and unique circumstances. It could be monthly or quarterly. Besides inspections, licensed facilities must also report to the licensing authority by means of quarterly reports, annual reports and emission reports.
Record keeping is a far better mechanism to verify compliance with legislative requirements than inspections. MTO also keeps a black smoke register that is updated daily by a designated staff member and reported to the GRDM. All incidents are evaluated.
How often is the city's air quality measured and where is it measured?
The ambient air quality of George is measured continuously by a provincial air quality monitoring station in the industrial area. Historically, the ambient air quality of George is very good, if compared with the ambient air quality standards. Industry must do annual independent emissions monitoring of their (point sources) stacks and these must comply with the minimum emission limits.
If the emission limits as well as the ambient standards are exceeded, steps are taken to mitigate the situation. Frequent non-compliance may lead to administrative enforcement action.
What penalty is applicable where a factory transgresses the regulations?
The penalties differ between air quality legislation and the authorities. In terms of the Air Quality Act, it could be R5-million for first-time offences. In terms of the by-law, it is a maximum of R2 500. Spot fines can also be issued in terms of the GRDM Air Quality by-law, depending on the track record of the facility. The act allows for upset conditions.
GRDM assessed and investigated the incident and concluded that it was not a deliberate transgression.
Furthermore, the manager of District Air Quality Control, Dr Johann Schoeman, visited MTO on Wednesday 28 September and confirmed that MTO also purchased two additional back-up power supplies to keep at hand for the PLC to mitigate future upsets.
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