Eskom has once again announced that it will not meet pollution standards for 14 of its coal power stations.
Read the Background Information Document here.
Although Eskom has already been given permission to postpone its compliance with the Air Quality Act’s minimum emission standards, and despite overwhelming evidence of the devastating health impacts of its emissions, it now plans to ask the Department of Environmental Affairs for even more time to meet standards – in other words, to continue with its pollution. In several cases, Eskom says it does not ever intend to meet emission standards.
This is despite that fact that Eskom’s pollution is estimated to cause more than:
- 2 239 deaths per year: 157 from lung cancer; 1 110 from ischaemic heart disease; 73 from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; 719 from strokes; and 180 from lower respiratory infection;
- 94 680 days of asthma symptoms per year in children aged 5 to 19; and
- 2 379 hospital admissions per year, and 996 628 lost working days per year.
The adverse health impacts of emissions from coal power plants is well known. Eskom has itself commissioned research on the health impacts of pollution from its coal power stations, as long ago as 2006. This revealed that its stations in operation at the time were responsible for significant numbers of annual deaths and respiratory hospital admissions.
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