‘Mokonyane backs down on controversial pollution law - for now’ 23 May 2019

Environmental Affairs Minister Nomvula Mokonyane has backed down on her controversial move to double the amount of harmful sulphur dioxide that industry can pump into the air – but only temporarily. She announced on Thursday that she had withdrawn an earlier provision, gazetted in October, that allowed coal-fired power stations, refineries and other industries with coal boilers to double the amount of sulphur dioxide (SO2) they were allowed to emit. 

Mokonyane, who was facing a legal challenge in the Pretoria High Court from the environmental justice organisation, groundWork, over the matter, said in a statement she had withdrawn the provision “due to objections and complaints received” about her inadequate public consultation on doubling of this minimum emission standard. groundWork had filed papers in the Pretoria High Court against Mokonyane and President Cyril Ramaphosa, saying the government had broken the law by not publishing its intention to change the emission standards, in order to allow the public to comment on the proposed change.

…Peek said while the Pretoria High Court action was against unlawful procedure, groundWork’s next move would be to contest the substantive issue about doubling the amount of SO2 pollution allowed. "We will contest it, because this is socially unjust and rolling back on standards. Industries continue to place profit over people, disregarding the impacts their pollution has on communities’ health and wellbeing,” Peek said.  Robyn Hugo, an attorney at CER, said two of the biggest SO2 emitters, Sasol and Eskom, had already postponed complying with the new emission standards until April 2025. The main reason industries are reluctant to comply with the new emission standards is the cost involved in altering their plants to enable a greater amount of SO2 to be removed from their emissions.