Displaying items by tag: Pollution

Pakistan: Lucky Cement says that all of cement plants in Pakistan are operating as normal. The plants are not facing any unscheduled shutdown and sales and cement dispatches are progressing as per the company’s regular routine.

The cement producer made its comments in response to a news story in the Nation newspaper alleging that a district authority had shut down Lucky Cement’s Pezu plant near Darru Pezu in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in early January 2017 due to breaches of environmental regulations.

Amendment: This story was amended following comment from Lucky Cement.

Vietnam: Ha Tien is to close its cement grinding plant in the Thu Duc district of Ho Chi Minh City following failed attempts to move the plant. The cement producer was ordered to cease all operations at the plant by 31 December 2016, according to Vietnam News. The plant reduced its production capacity to 1Mt/yr from 1.7Mt/yr in 2015 following accusations of air pollution. Ha Tien attempted to move the plant to District 9 in 2016 but the proposal was turned down by city planners.

Slovenia: LafargeHolcim will pay Euro270,000 in compensation to farmers in the Zasavje region, who claimed that pollution damaged their land. LafargeHolcim settled with the farmers before a long running court case ordered three other companies to pay up to Euro1.17m each, according to the Slovenian Press Agency. The farmers presented measurements showing permitted emissions had been exceeded by 10-fold or in some cases even 100-fold between 1991 and 2002, alongside evidence of declining yields and animal reproduction rates, as well as damage to orchards and forests. The other companies involved in the case were the Termoelektrarna Trbovlje (TET) thermal power plant, the Steklarna Hrastnik glassworks and the TKI chemicals factory.

Vietnam: The Ministries of Industry and Trade and Natural Resources and Environment have started inspecting cement and thermal power plants following the discovery of various violations of environmental regulations at certain companies. A joint delegation from the two ministries will look into the production and waste treatment facilities of the factories, according to the Viet Nam News newspaper.

Trần Tuấn Anh, Minister of Industry and Trade, has also ordered companies regulated by his ministry to provide information on environmental protection to the media. Anh has made it mandatory for contractors and investors to complete environmental protection projects in accordance with the commitments stated in their environmental impact assessments released before operation starts. Producers are supposed to publicise information on their trials so that local authorities and residents can supervise them.

Malaysia: Lafarge Malaysia is facing clean-up costs following the release of dust from its Langkawi cement plant on 12 September 2016. Dust from the plant was accidentally released due to repair work on a clogged processing unit. It was then blown by the wind to three nearby villages comprising around 1000 houses, according to the Free Malaysia Today newspaper. Management at the plant has apologised for the incident and has agreed to cover the cost of the clean up.

Pakistan: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued directives to the Hazara and Kohat administrations to stop production at two cement plants in breach of EPA regulations on dust pollution. Muhammad Bashir Khan, the director general of the EPA, has issued directives to shut down the Dewan Hattar Cement plant in Hattar and the Kohat Cement plant, according to the News International newspaper. Khan said that the Dewan Hattar plant had requested an eight-month period to install dust control measures but had failed to do so. The Kohat plant’s dust control unit is currently out of order.

US: A legal challenge to the cancelled Titan American Castle Hayne cement plant has ended following the termination of a challenged air pollution permit by the North Carolina Division of Air Quality. Titan rescinded the permit, following its announcement in March 2016 to cancel its cement plant project. It was originally issued in 2012.

"For years, Titan and the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) tried to keep citizen groups from getting a hearing on significant and avoidable air pollution from this proposed plant," said Geoff Gisler, senior attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center who represented the North Carolina Coastal Federation, Cape Fear River Watch, PenderWatch & Conservancy, and Sierra Club. "We have achieved the goal of this lawsuit - protecting citizens of New Hanover and Pender counties from Titan’s pollution when DEQ failed to do so."

Titan will continue to operate a cement terminal at the site. On 12 April 2016, the North Carolina Court of Appeals granted citizen groups’ request to dismiss the appeal because the approval of the plant had been withdrawn, according to the Southern Environmental Law Center.

Vietnam: The People’s Committee of the northern coastal province of Quang Ninh have decided to stop the loading and discharge activities and transport of clinker, cement and wood chips on Ha Long Bay due to pollution fears at the tourist site.

Under the decision No. 617/QD-UBND, transportation of bulk cargo, such as clinker, cement and wood chips will be terminated from 1 July 2016. Transportation of these goods will be moved to Hon Net port on Bai Tu Long bay instead. The provincial People Committee has also previously proposed that the government stop upgrades at two cement plants, Thang Long 2 and Ha Long, due to similar concerns.

Ha Long Bay, which spans 1553km² and houses 1969 islands of various sizes, was recognised as a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organizatio (UNESCO) World Heritage Site in 1994 and 2000. It is a major tourist attraction in the country with more than 500 tourist boats in service.

India: The National Green Tribunal has issued notices to 13 cement companies on a petition alleging that they are violating its orders and environmental norms as well as the provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, by causing air pollution. The petitioner, Neena Pradeep, has also accused the cement companies of overloading their trucks with cement and clinkers in order to save toll tax, according to the Hindu. Violations by Shree Cement and JK Cement were highlighted during the hearing. They have allegedly overloaded their trucks by 200 - 250%.

Pakistan: The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has deferred the approval for setting up a tyre-derived fuel (TDF) plant at the Bestway Cement plant in Farooqia. The decision has been left by the EPA to consent from the local community, according to local press.

EPA Director General Dr Bashir Khan said at a public meeting that unless local residents were satisfied, Bestway Cement would not be issued a no-objection certificate. Residents have cited dust, smoke, noise and water pollution as reasons to object against the proposed plant. Qamar Hayat, a local activist, said that locals would allow the EPA to approve the TDF plant when they were guaranteed pollution would be monitored and that health hazards and property losses would be checked.