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Govt Takes More Time Over Stricter Emissions Rule

The government is working on revisions to a ministerial regulation that will impose stricter emission rules on the country’s coal-fired power plants in a bid to curb air pollution.

The stricter emissions rule would affect power plant operators, and several industry players have filed objections because they would be required to spend significant amounts of money on air pollution control equipment. Because of arguments over the issue, the government needs more time for negotiation.

“We previously set a target to complete the revision in last December. However, we are still having some tough discussions with relevant stakeholders, as industry players say the new standards are too strict, while environmentalists say the opposite,” the Environment and Forestry Ministry’s air pollution control director Dasrul Chaniago told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

Read moreGovt Takes More Time Over Stricter Emissions Rule

NGO: Planned New Coal Emission Standards Not Strict Enough

A freight train transports coal in this undated photograph. (kompas.com/File)

 

The Environment and Forestry Ministry has been urged to be more ambitious concerning stricter emission standards for coal-fired power plants in an upcoming revision of Regulation No. 21/2008 on stationary sources of air pollutants.

Through the revision, the ministry plans to impose stricter emission standards by setting a maximum emission level of 550 milligrams per cubic meter (mg/Nm3) for sulfur dioxide ( SO2 ) and nitrogen oxide (NOx) as well as 75 mg/Nm3 for particulate matters for coal plants in operation before Dec. 1, 2008.

Margaretha Quina, the head of the pollution control division at the Jakarta-based Indonesian Center for Environmental Law (ICEL), said the scope of the new standards was too broad, as it would also apply to old power plants built in the 1980s.

“The government should just shut down such old power plants, instead of forcing them to install air pollution control facilities,” Quina said recently.

Furthermore, the ministry will set maximum levels of 400 mg/Nm3 for SO2, 300 mg/Nm3 for NOx and 50 mg/Nm3 for particulate matter from power plants commencing operations in the period of Jan. 1, 2009, to Dec. 31, 2020.

Quina pointed out, however, that there were actually many coal-fired power plants in the country, specifically those built in the 2006-2010 period, that were cabable of emitting no more than 300 mg/Nm3 of SO2 and NOx.

“Hence, it would make sense to make the new emission standards even more strict,” she said. (bbn)

 

Source : http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2018/02/12/ngo-planned-new-coal-emission-standards-not-strict-enough.html