December 02, 2008

70 steel mills issued notices over smoke emission

It is reported that 70 steel re rolling mills have been issued the Environment Protection Order for not complying with the National Environmental Quality Standards set by the Environment Protection Department under Pakistan’s Environmental Protection Act of 1997.

Environment Protection Departmen officials said that a few months ago the department had issued notice for personal hearings to the steel mills located in Kot Khaja Saeed, Kala Khatai, Bund Road and other areas of the city as these mills were not following NEQS and had not installed smoke control devices such as fly ash arrests in their chimneys.

The official said that mills, not able to meet the requirement after personal hearing notices, have been issued EPOs. They said 47 mills had been referred to the Environment Protection Tribunal after the expiry of their EPOs. The tribunal will take a final decision on the operation of the mills.

EPD had issued personal hearing notice under Article 16 Section 1 of PEPA, which calls for action against people who pollute the environment. Section 2 of the same article was practiced by issuing EPOs to mills that were not able to bring their pollutant emissions within the specified target during the time of the hearings. Mills that have been issued EPOs have been allocated a certain time frame to control their pollutant emissions and after the expiry of this period are referred to the EPT.