Environment in jeopardy as steel mills turn to coal

EPA chief worried by switchover following gas shortages.

ISLAMABAD:

Gas shortages have pushed a number of steel mills in sectors I-9 and I-10 to using coal, increasing the level of pollution in the city.

Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (Pak-EPA) Director General Asif Shuja said, “The growing concern for us is to stop steel mills from using coal as a substitute to gas because it is hazardous to human health and the environment.”

The unavailability of gas for industrial units has become a burgeoning issue and they are now using furnace oil and coal to meet their need, he said. “We have urged the re-rolling steel mills to install coal gasification plants, which two have installed, but the rests still have to follow suit.”

Though the unit costs around Rs10 million, installing them is becoming inevitable as uninterrupted supply of gas does not seem possible in the current circumstances, Shuja said. The commercial units in Islamabad have not been getting natural gas for more than 10 days now.

The Pak-EPA has regularly raised reservations in their meetings about the growth of the industrial area and the resulting pollution. According to Shuja, they have curbed one of the major causes of pollution — marble-cutting — by stopping dry cutting and urged the owners of marble processing units to use wet cutting methods. However, he admitted that a lot still has to be done in other areas.



The government recently admitted during a senate question answer session that emissions from the industrial units in sectors I-9 and 1-10 are causing pollution problems in the area. Senator Hidayatullah asked if the government has any proposals under consideration to address the issue. Capital Administration and Development Minister Nazar Muhammad Gondal responded, “There is no such proposal under consideration.”

Gondal said that the Pak-EPA is the regulatory authority under the Environmental Protection Act 1997 and the Capital Development Authority (CDA) has already approached Pak-EPA to take necessary steps to contain and control pollution in Islamabad. “The Pak-EPA has issued Environmental Protection Orders to all nine steel furnaces to install wet scrubber treatment devices and submit emissions report to the agency,” Gondal said.

Pak-EPA DG Shuja said that efforts are underway in collaboration with the CDA to minimise pollution in Islamabad.

Meanwhile, an official at a steel mill not using the unit proposed by Pak-EPA, said, “It is difficult for us to pay for the unit, so we have to use old-school techniques to meet the demand.”

An employee of Ittihad Steel Mills, which is using the environment-friendly unit, said, the mill is going through hard times because coal and furnace oil push production costs up in a business with already slim profit margins.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 8^th, 2013.