KwaZulu-Natal environment minister Narend Singh has been asked to cancel government approval of Engen's R150-million Durban refinery expansion because it allows industry to "thrive at the expense of people".

According to an appeal document prepared by attorney Angela Andrews of the Legal Resources Centre, fuel giant Engen has chosen inferior technology which would perpetuate high levels of industrial air pollution in neighbouring suburbs.

Acting on behalf of a local community organisation, the appeal document accuses Singh's department of permitting the industrial excesses of the apartheid era to determine pollution levels of the future.

"Once again, it allows industry to thrive at the expense of people," says the appeal forwarded to Singh at the weekend.

The cost of gas-scrubbing was still 'modest'

An expert report from Professor Eugene Cairncross of Cape Town's Peninsula Technikon also says Engen could cut its total emissions of sulphur dioxide by almost 50 percent if it fitted gas-scrubbing technology to one of its major fuel units.

Stack gas-scrubbing was a proven technology capable of removing up to 90 percent of sulphur dioxide pollution from Engen's FCCU process unit.

Using this method, Engen could halve the refinery's overall sulphur emissions, said Cairncross, a chemical engineering professor.

However, Engen had opted for a "technically inferior" desulphurising catalyst system which could only reduce sulphur emissions marginally.

Cairncross said the failure of Engen, and the consulting firm Ecoserve, to investigate cleaner options was puzzling, since the cost of gas-scrubbing was similar, and possibly cheaper, than Engen's chosen option.

Cairncross said even if his rough estimates were doubled, the cost of gas-scrubbing was still "modest" in relation to the economic benefits.

He said Singh should consider these arguments carefully, bearing in mind that Engen was the second largest sulphur polluter in south Durban.

Advocates Angus Stewart and Pushpa Naidu and attorney Andrews, acting on behalf of the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance, have also argued Singh's department has missed "an excellent opportunity to force industry to reduce pollution levels" by authorising Engen's "flawed" proposal.