Environmentalists appeal green light for Tata smelter

durban - tata steel's r650 million ferrochrome smelter in richards bay will be delayed further after a call for the provincial environmental authority to reverse its green light.

the environmental organisations groundwork, the richards bay clean air association (rbcaa) and the wildlife and environment society of sa have appealed against the approval.

vusi zuma, the spokesperson for kwazulu-natal minister of agriculture and environmental affairs, said yesterday: "in terms of legislation, there's no time frame specified for assessing appeals. but it would be done in a reasonable time."

bobby peek, the director of groundwork, said in a submission: "the rbcaa has consistently expressed concerns that … emissions levels have reached critical capacity. this is widely accepted by all stakeholders in richards bay.

"locating this development in such close proximity to … residential areas and the central business district will impact on the ambient environment."

initially, tata planned to set up the smelter next to mondi's pulp mill, but mondi objected. an alternative site was allocated at alton north, about 2km from residential areas.



peek said the fact that mondi had asked for the smelter to be moved due to the effect of potential emissions on its pulp processes should be enough of a caution for the provincial authorities to stipulate that tata develop the plant further from residential areas.

groundwork is also concerned that the department does not have the capacity to monitor the many conditions it expects tata to meet.

the rbcaa is opposed to the location at alton north and the vagueness of the emissions management conditions.

among the members of the rbcaa that supported the appeal were richards bay minerals, the richards bay ratepayers and residents association, foskor and the municipality.

the hillside and bayside aluminium smelters distanced themselves from the appeal, mondi abstained and mineral sands operation ticor south africa opposed it.

tata steel, part of india's tata group, has been working on the project since 2001. when it got the green light last month, it had planned to begin constructing phase one this month for completion next september.

tata could not be reached for comment yesterday.