The indebted power utility has failed to fully repair pollution-abatement equipment at its 4,116 megawatt Kendal power plant that began malfunctioning in early 2018 and was damaged further in a strike later that year. The indebted power utility has failed to fully repair pollution-abatement equipment at its 4,116 megawatt Kendal power plant that began malfunctioning in early 2018 and was damaged further in a strike later that year.
“An expert’s initial assessment has found that the total annual excess deaths due to Kendal’s emissions for the 2018 period was approximately 100 and about 90 deaths for the 2019 period,” said Robyn Hugo, program head for climate change and pollution at Cape Town’s Centre for Environmental Rights, a legal organization that represents activists.
This is a real Catch-22 with South Africa suffering from lack of generation power, so we can’t just switch off power stations, but this type of non-compliance is due to negligence in terms of maintenance (probably also stemming from a monopoly that is never held accountable). But it is costing lives as air-pollution is not just some vague statistic, it kills. I’m still doubting though that anyone will actually be held personally liable for this… but awareness of the situation is critical and people do need to know their lives are at risk near this power station.
See Eskom’s biggest working power plant faces closure due to pollution
#environment #southafrica #airpollution
Eskom is battling to keep all the units of its biggest operational power plant open after being served with a compliance notice by South Africa’s environment ministry because of its high levels of air pollution.