Linda Ensor
28 January 2004
Cape Town — Emission licences to be reviewed
Oil refineries polluting the environment have been earmarked for priority attention in coming months by the environmental affairs and tourism department, which will be reviewing emission licences.
It also emerged during a parliamentary briefing that Finance Minister Trevor Manuel would announce a new environmental tax when he tables his national budget on February 18.
Environmental and tourism director-general Crispian Olver confirmed that a new environmental tax was in the offing, but did not provide details.
Chief director in the environmental affairs department, Peter Lukey, told Parliament's portfolio committee on environmental affairs and tourism that the oil- refining industry had been identified as a "hot spot" industry in terms of its pollution emissions into the sea and the air.
It had become clear from the department's discussions with the KwaZulu-Natal government that oil spills and air pollution appeared to be on the increase.
Lukey stressed the importance of the department taking action to manage air quality even before the Air Quality Bill, which would tighten air quality management, comes into being .
According to Lukey, the bill could not be regarded as a panacea for all air pollution problems and would take time to be implemented and enforced .
"Over the next couple of months the department together with provincial departments will be prioritising air quality issues, particularly hot spot ones and we will be reviewing the emission licences for these facilities."
Olver said industry charters for the fishing and tourism sectors were under consideration.
The department also aimed to develop 12 new fisheries over the next five years in unexploited sectors such as octopus , horse mackerel and others. These would empower coastal communities.
Despite the bad press on overpricing in the tourism sector, there was a 5,3% increase in international arrivals last year which, while not as high as previous years, was still substantial.
Olver still believed SA was a value-for-money proposition for travellers from overseas .
Meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions had performed particularly well and was now a firmly established industry.
The department also planned to expand the area under conservation and would probably increase the size of the Tsitsikamma forest along the Garden Route .
Addressing the controversy over the planned toll road along the Wild Coast, Olver said it was the only way to conserve the area as leaving it alone would guarantee its deterioration through poverty, over-exploitation and invasion by alien species.
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