| Speech by Gareth Morgan on Environmental Laws |
| Monday, 24 May 2010 20:49 |
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DA SPOKESPERSON ON ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS TUESDAY 28 FEBRUARY 2008 The enforcement of environmental legislation is critical for the protection of eco-systems and the promotion of sustainable development in South Africa. Far too often the good intentions of laws such as the NEMA are undermined by an inability of government to effectively enforce compliance or to monitor developments after the Records of Decisions for individual projects have been handed down. The National Environment Laws Amendment Bill will, once promulgated, assist the Environment Management Inspectorate, sometimes referred to as the Green Scorpions, in the performance of its functions. I am glad that this type of Scorpion is being given a more potent sting, unlike its organised crime-fighting cousin. The Bill before us will provide Environment Management Inspectors (EMIs) with clear and comprehensive mandates, powers and legal tools. It clarifies the status of the EMIs as peace officers for the purpose of enforcing specific environment management acts, most notably portions of the Atmospheric Pollution Prevention Act, at least until the Air Quality Act is fully implemented. Further, the Bill corrects some drafting problems in the Environment Conservation Act which had inadvertently resulted in the illegal dumping of waste ceasing to be a criminal offence. The Democratic Alliance fully supports this Bill and hopes that it will achieve what it sets out to do. Allow me now to use the opportunity of this debate to make broader observations about environmental enforcement in South Africa. The number of EMIs has increased steadily over recent years, but a close look at the total numbers shows that the vast majority are aligned to SANParks and the provincial parks. They thus concentrate on so-called “green issues”, that is, the enforcement of conservation and related matters. To prove this, as of August 2007, of the 866 EMIs in South Africa, 632 were attached to SANParks. It is important that EMIs increasingly concentrate on the so-called “brown” issues, that is, pollution including waste and air quality. Pollution effects human health and the well-being of eco-systems. Those institutions and individuals that externalize the cost of their operations, passing on the legacy of sickness and environmental degradation to our communities need to be brought to book. I would like to raise two environmental problems that have not been brought up in this House before that relate specifically to problems with enforcement. The first is the issue of illegal sandmining, which is a campaign of the Environmental Management Inspectorate, but has yet to show any significant successes. The construction boom in South Africa is resulting in a massive quantity of sand being mined. While many of these operations have permits from the DME, it is certainly the case that many other do not. Further, there are sandmining operations that are not fully complying with their own permits. There are operations that operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, that change the direction of spruits, that mine into river beds and that mine right down to the bed rock. This is reckless behaviour and must be stopped. Environmental impacts of such operations usually include water, noise and dust pollution and the destruction of landscapes. On many occasions these operations are not rehabilitated. DME is seldom forthcoming with the Environmental Management Plans for individual operations, in fact, it is doubtful whether they know what is going on. As is so often the case with the DME, once an environmental authorization is provided, it washes its hands of the project. So where are the Green Scorpions? Who is stopping the illegal operations and who is forcing compliance with existing environmental management plans for authorized operations. Honourable Members, one need only visit the unique area of the Seringveld, north-west of Cullinan, in order to see the damage from past and existing sandmining operations. Indeed, in my own home city of Ethekwini, unscrupulous operators are destroying river beds. Please, Mr Minister, we need action on this front. And let me say, if there was ever need for quick visible proof of why DME should not be given the right to grant environmental authorizations for mining operations, then this is it. Secondly, the medical waste industry is fraught with regulatory problems. The issues are complex, with service providers and DEAT pointing fingers at each other over the lack of capacity to dispose of medical waste. Medical waste companies have at times been forced to stockpile waste, both general medical waste and anatomical waste, because there are not sufficient facilities to dispose of it. While some of these private operators are probably greedy, and thus take on contracts to remove medical waste from hospitals knowing that they cannot dispose of it, there are other operators that attempt at every turn to abide by the law, yet cannot find legal incinerators or waste sites to dispose of matter. Melissa Fourie, the head of the Inspectorate, has an obligation to provide guidance on these issues. I am aware of several operators who plead with the inspectorate for assistance, but on many occasions the inspectorate ignores them or argues that incineration capacity is sufficient. There is not sufficient capacity. Further, the permitting of landfill sites often takes more than 18 months to complete, further adding to backlogs, and resulting in medical waste being transported across provincial borders to be disposed of in the few available sites. So, some private operators can be blamed, but so can the Environment Management Inspectorate. I trust the Inspectorate will give its full attention to the role players in the industry. And further, that DEAT begins to engage with the private service providers about the barriers to bringing in new technology that is friendlier to the environment and human health which can eventually replace incineration. The private sector has many ideas on what needs to be done, and DEAT and the Inspectorate need to listen. I thank you. |
