Home PodcastInayet Wadee Changing the Engen refinery to a storage facility will be detrimental to all

Changing the Engen refinery to a storage facility will be detrimental to all

by Luqmaan Rawat

Durban – Engen is looking to change their destroyed refinery in Durban into storage units. If this happens it can pose a serious health risk to residents in the area.

While operational the refinery impacted residents’ health . Residents breathed a huge sigh of relief after it was decided the refinery would be shut down after the explosion. That relief might be cut short as environmentalist, Desmond Matthew D’sa, explained should the refinery be changed into a storage unit, it will once again be a health risk to them.

“On the issue of higher levels of cancer and leukaemia and asthma, that has been well documented in various studies done in South Durban since 2002 and a further study completed in 2007 by government as well as the industry. We know that the rate of cancer and leukaemia and asthma is pretty high in the area. What this will do, if they’re bringing the storage facilities, there’d be higher emissions of benzene which is a well-known carcinogenic which causes cancer, and we are worried.”

The high volume of trucks on the road

Besides harmful chemicals being released into the atmosphere, another major concern is the number of trucks that will be on the road. Matthew explained that truck accidents happen quite often and lead to thousands of deaths as well as cause major damage to our roads. Converting the refinery into a storage facility will only compound this problem.

“This will result in more traffic jams. It’ll increase the traffic jams that we are already experiencing on our residential roads. More critically it adds to the problems we are already experiencing … We’re more worried about the truck accidents on our roads. There are thousands of truck accidents every year and thousands of people are killed including our school children … We still do not have an emergency plan, an escape route if something happens. We don’t have an emergency plan to alert the citizens of South Durban.”

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Storage units are needed but should not be near residential areas

Matthew was alerted to this new development last week through the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA). While he admits that storage units are needed, he is against the idea of having them so close to a residential area. The health risks are too severe for it to even be considered.

“We accept that there is a need to store a refined product, but it can’t be next to people’s homes. It should be in an area far from people’s homes because of the impact of the volatile organic compounds like benzene, chlorine and other volatile organic compounds. There are over sixty volatile organic compounds that we are worried about.”

The stench plaguing Johannesburg

Residents of Johannesburg have been greeted every morning by a foul stench. This, according to Matthew, is the result of pollution. While burning coal is one of the causes, it is not the main problem.

“What happens is that coal creates this burden of this environmental destruction that has been meted out and emitted through the various polluting companies. During the winter months it gets worse. The air is heavy, so all the pollution does is go up and come right down onto communities.”

Matthew has spoken to the industry and government. He hopes the government moves away from the coal industry and towards renewable, clean energy.

“They blame the people burning coal but that’s only a small fraction of it. What they should really look at is that there should never be any coal burning during the winter months. They should actually issue a red alert. In South Durban we managed to get rid of the coal. We know that coal is the worst polluter in the world and the World Health Organisation has stated repeatedly in scientific journals, in medical journals that coal pollution is the biggest killer of people.”

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Since the Engen refinery has closed, lives have improved

The government has signed many treaties like the Paris Accords and the Glasgow Climate Pact. It is time to fulfil these agreements and move towards a greener, cleaner future. The benefits of going clean are already being seen in South Durban. Since the refinery closed, there has been little to no complaints from residents about their health, said Matthew.

“We’ve seen that since the Engen, Shell and BP refinery in Durban was shut down, the air is clean. There’s nobody complaining, there’s nobody coughing and that’s what needs to be done in the Highveld as well. They should be able to move away from coal and move to cleaner energy as soon as possible.”

Besides having clean air to breathe to live a better life, moving to renewable energy will create more jobs, necessary in eradicating poverty.

“It will create jobs which will be socially owned by the people. People can create jobs in their local communities, and you can practically put up a solar farm overnight in those local communities … We don’t need to burden people with high levels of pollution that are creating respiratory illnesses and killing people.”

Matthew will be holding a picket in protest against Engen wanting to change the refinery to a storage facility. This is the first step in keeping the community safe, but he believes more needs to be done from the side of the government if they wish to truly move the country forward.

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