Allowing Eskom to skip sulfur dioxide (SO2) pollution controls at the Kusile power station will harm the health of people living in the power plant’s air ducts in Delmas, Mpumalanga, Life After Coal campaigners say.
Allowing Eskom to pass control of sulfur dioxide (SO2) pollution at its Kusile power station will harm the health of people living in the airshed of the power station in Delmas, Mpumalanga, said the Life After Coal campaign.
This was in response to the announcement on Wednesday by the Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment Barbara Creecy that Kusile has been exempted, subject to certain strict conditions, from the “long process” required to modify the atmospheric emissions license, to reduce the burden. – loose.
Creecy said the exemption, under section 59 of the Air Quality Act, was granted on March 14 in response to an application received from Eskom regarding Kusile. It was brought because of the “urgent need to alleviate the electricity crisis in the country”.
“Eskom’s request for a temporary solution to restore the lost generation capacity at the Kusile power station while the damaged pile is repaired, which will be completed by December 2024. In the meantime, Eskom plans to build the temporary pile in November 2023, which will be completed in December 2024 . it anticipates will allow the resumption of the generation capacity of 2100 megawatts, which will reduce the country’s exposure to open-shedding by two levels.
The proposed temporary solution for Kusile envisages that Eskom will operate the temporary stack without using the flue gas desulphurisation mechanism for 13 months, Creecy said. “This may increase SO2 emissions during this period, exceeding the currently applicable limits contained in the Kusile atmospheric emissions licence.”
Exhaust gas desulfurization is the process of removing sulfur compounds from the exhaust gas emissions of fossil fuel power stations.
‘Serious health implications’
Life After Coal, a joint campaign by the Center for Environmental Rights, groundWork and Earthlife Africa Johannesburg, said Creecy’s decision allowed Eskom to create a fast-track process to request an exemption from the Air Quality Act in relation to Eskom’s proposal. get three units in Kusile, which are not working in October 2022, can be used again – do so by bypassing the SO2 control.
SO2 is a priority pollutant under the Air Quality Act, an act “for communities living with the effects of industrial pollution fought hard between 1994 and 2004”.
It causes various diseases, including shortness of breath, chronic wheezing, decreased lung function, upper respiratory irritation and bronchoconstriction and chronic exposure leading to premature death.
“If Kusile operates at a pre-stack collapse production level of approximately 33% [which is the output Kusile was producing prior to the stack malfunction] for 13 months as proposed, it is predicted that 195 people will die from SO2 pollution. If it operates at 100% for 13 months, 492 people will die.
If the bypass pile runs for three years, 540 to 1 362 people will die from SO2 pollution, depending on the level of production in Kusile, he said. “This is over and above the public health disaster that exists in the Mpumalanga Highveld where particulate matter from coal power has killed more than 2 200 people every year.”
It was unclear whether Eskom had proposed or proposed to conduct a health impact study on the proposed plan, he said.
‘Tough decision’
Creecy said he was aware of the well-documented socio-economic effects of reducing the burden, which had ramifications for South Africans. “I am also aware of the health and impact associated with exposure to sulfur dioxide emissions, particularly in communities near coal-fired power plants. Due to competing factors, I have been asked to make very difficult decisions.
He said Eskom must now apply to the national air quality officer for a one-time delay with the minimum emission standard (MES) compliance timeframe for new plants. The one-time suspension can only be applied until March 31, 2025, according to the applicable regulations.
The exemption is subject to several conditions, Creecy said. These include Eskom having to issue a public notice in two national newspapers, explaining the reasons for the application; that Eskom must conduct a public participation process with a time limit of 14 days; and that Eskom must account to Creecy and the portfolio committee on forestry, fisheries and the environment in the progress of repairs to the western stack.
Eskom must also take measures to “mitigate” against exposure of employees and the surrounding community to harm, “which, as a minimum, should include self-examination and referral to appropriate public health facilities for treatment if necessary”.
‘Drink SO2’
The campaign questioned whether the decision to allow Eskom to “discharge SO2 from continuous pollutant emissions into the atmosphere” would meet the requirements of the Constitution, which places the state’s obligation to have direct effects on the environment harmless. for health and well-being – as confirmed by the Deadly Air court in March 2022. Uncontrolled pollution will “accelerate” this violation of the constitution.
On the mitigation measures announced by Creecy on SO2 exposure, the campaign said that “deliberately making people sick and then referring them to a doctor for treatment would be a terrible violation of human rights, especially given the inadequate public health care system”. It also noted that the 14-day public participation process “is not enough time to carry out appropriate consultations as required by law”.
In a letter sent to Creecy last week, the campaign raised concerns about media reports about Eskom’s plans to bypass pollution controls in Kusile. This includes a preliminary assessment of the potential health effects of the proposed decision, by the Center for Clean Air and Energy Research.
The letter questions the accuracy of the claim that the proposed stack bypass will generate a generating capacity of 2 160 megawatts, based on past performance at Kusile. “Prior to stack failure during 2022, it appears that the plant will only produce about 33% of its equivalent capacity of 700MW, less than one stage of load shedding.”
The letter notes how, according to Eskom, it will repair the stacks that are not in use until December 2024.
“This shows that Eskom is proposing to pay the full cost of the temporary bypass in exchange for 13 months of production. With plant performance below about 33%, the bypass equipment will be redundant as soon as the original stack is repaired and the full system is back in service.
“There is a real risk – we would say a possibility – that the construction of the bypass will take longer than the end of November 2023 and will cost more than what Eskom says is the cost estimate.”
An alternative proposal is that the Kusile flue gas desulfurization malfunction is seen as an “opportunity to speed up the removal of coal”.
The money is better used for solar or wind photovoltaic installations on a scale from households and commercial, with subsidies, to large-scale Eskom solar, which can be implemented quickly on Eskom land and does not require regulatory approval in the case of rooftop solar. , he said.