DECISION ON APPLICATIONS FOR POSTPONEMENT OF COMPLIANCE TIME-FRAMES FOR MINIMUM AIR QUALITY EMISSION STANDARDS: REQUEST FOR CLARIFICATION

The Centre for Environmental Rights (CER) has identified significant discrepancies in the National Air Quality Officer's (NAQO) decisions regarding Eskom's applications for postponement of minimum emission standards (MES). The CER highlights inconsistencies between the postponement periods and emission limits sought by Eskom and those actually granted, as well as a lack of clear commencement dates for certain standards. Specifically, the CER notes that for several power stations, the NAQO appears to have granted open-ended postponements for SO2 emissions 'until decommissioning' or implicitly granted 2020 MES postponements that were not explicitly requested. The document seeks formal clarification on these administrative inconsistencies to advise environmental justice organisations and impacted community groups.

• There are numerous discrepancies between the postponement periods Eskom applied for, the periods recorded in decision letters, and the periods actually granted. For example, at the Arnot power station, the application for PM was 'Indefinitely', but the decision listed 'None' for both the period sought and the period granted, resulting in 'No Decision'.
• Emission limits granted by the NAQO often differ from those requested by Eskom, yet the applications are still recorded as 'granted'. Examples include the Camden station, where Eskom requested a NOx limit of 1700 mg/Nm3 but was granted 1300 mg/Nm3, and the Duvha station, where a requested SO2 limit of 2600 mg/Nm3 resulted in a granted limit of 2300 mg/Nm3.
• The NAQO failed to provide explicit commencement dates for the new plant MES for particulate matter (PM) at the Grootvlei, Lethabo, and Tutuka power stations, despite granting postponements in stages with decreasing limits.
• For the 2020 PM standard of 50mg/Nm3, the NAQO did not consider postponement applications for Kendal, Komati, and Lethabo, citing that 'national ambient air quality standards have become stricter on 01 January 2015', while appearing to implicitly grant a postponement for the Kriel plant.
• The NAQO appears to have granted open-ended postponements for the 2020 SO2 MES for most plants, either by setting limits 'until decommissioning' (as with Kriel and Majuba) or by omitting a compliance date. Only Kendal and Matimba were explicitly granted a five-year postponement, required to achieve 500mg/Nm3 by 1 April 2025.
• Regarding the 2020 NOx MES, the NAQO granted five of the nine postponement applications submitted by Eskom and failed to respond to the remaining four.

APA

Centre for Environmental Rights (2015). DECISION ON APPLICATIONS FOR POSTPONEMENT OF COMPLIANCE TIME-FRAMES FOR MINIMUM AIR QUALITY EMISSION STANDARDS: REQUEST FOR CLARIFICATION. https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/CER-letter-to-NAQO_7-April-2015.pdf?x21779

Chicago

Centre for Environmental Rights. DECISION ON APPLICATIONS FOR POSTPONEMENT OF COMPLIANCE TIME-FRAMES FOR MINIMUM AIR QUALITY EMISSION STANDARDS: REQUEST FOR CLARIFICATION. 2015. https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/CER-letter-to-NAQO_7-April-2015.pdf?x21779.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Centre for Environmental Rights |title=DECISION ON APPLICATIONS FOR POSTPONEMENT OF COMPLIANCE TIME-FRAMES FOR MINIMUM AIR QUALITY EMISSION STANDARDS: REQUEST FOR CLARIFICATION |date=7 April 2015 |url=https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/CER-letter-to-NAQO_7-April-2015.pdf?x21779 |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{centreforenvironmentalrights2015decision, author = {{Centre for Environmental Rights}}, title = {{DECISION ON APPLICATIONS FOR POSTPONEMENT OF COMPLIANCE TIME-FRAMES FOR MINIMUM AIR QUALITY EMISSION STANDARDS: REQUEST FOR CLARIFICATION}}, publisher = {Centre for Environmental Rights}, year = {2015}, month = apr, url = {https://cer.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/CER-letter-to-NAQO_7-April-2015.pdf?x21779}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }