The Durban health department intends taking Engen to court after sulphur dioxide emissions at its Durban oil refinery were found to be ”excessive”.
”We’ve served the necessary notices, we are moving ahead with the legal processes,” said the deputy head of the department, Selva Mudaly.
The oil refinery exceeded its sulphur dioxide emissions 64 times in just over a month, according to a World Health Organisation (WHO) report.
Mudaly said the decision came after an extensive process of auditing and monitoring the air quality at the refinery. He said an elaborate monitoring system had been in place for the last two or three years.
Mudaly said the department was not charging the company under the Air Quality Act, but under the city’s by-laws.
Sulphur dioxide irritates the respiratory system and can aggravate asthma.
Engen spokesperson Ray Damon said on Tuesday: ”Our permit allows 35 [exceedences] maximum per year. Investigations for the months of March and April — when we had most of the exceedences attributable to us — were not significantly different from typical. We concluded that the atmospheric conditions prevalent at the time played a significant role.”
Damon said Engen was ”not happy” that it had exceeded its emission limit. The company was committed to meeting its permit conditions and its permit was the ”only one of its kind where an industry has committed itself to such a wide range of stringent conditions”.
He said Engen was working with the city to find solutions to problems it encountered during certain atmospheric conditions.
”In the short term we are focusing on a desulphurisation additive and installation of an analyser to monitor fuel gas sulphur. The analyser should be in place early next year,” Damon said.
Earlier the refinery’s general manager, Wayne Hartmann, said the company was surprised the emissions had exceeded permitted limits.
”Trying to understand what is behind it is a little problematic … it could be weather related.”
He said the new limits were introduced when the company adopted its new scheduled trade permit.
A sophisticated monitoring system measured the air quality every ten minutes. An ”exceedence” was registered every time the sulphur in the air surpassed 191 parts per billion.
”The quality of the air here is close to WHO guidelines. It’s the difference between good and almost good, not between poor and shocking,” Hartmann said.
He said the matter had been blown out of proportion, given the refinery’s small number of ”exceedences”.
”In May there were 17 total exceedences in the area, to which our contribution was nil.”
The plant’s total annual exceedences numbered about 35, and its environmental standards were on a par with those worldwide.
”My refinery smells a hell of lot better than those do [in the United States]. It’s my expectation that the city will take action against us,” he added.
The refinery manufactures diesel, fuel oils, gases, asphalt and kerosene. – Sapa