PRESS RELEASE -12 October 2004

The Table View Residents Association to air their views to Portfolio Committee

The Portfolio Committee on Environmental Affairs and Tourism will be visiting the ambient air monitoring stations in Cape Town today, to determine whether they are situated in the correct areas to measure the factual air pollution. This visit comes after appeals by the Table View residents that information from the ambient air monitors does not reflect the true air quality status. A 2003 health study conducted by the UCT lung Institute[1], University of Cape Town, revealed that petrochemical refinery emissions were one of the factors responsible for asthma.

The Table View Residents Association will be presenting some of their concerns to the Portfolio Committee. These concerns include:

The imminent enactment of the air quality bill is evidence of government’s willingness to change the air pollution situation but industry is not rising to the occasion although they know full well what to do and how to implement pollution reduction plans.
The Portfolio Committee must support the call for the northern suburbs of Cape Town (communities surrounding Caltex refinery) to be viewed as a priority area for pollution reduction in terms of the new legislation.
Industry must publish their source monitoring data as a matter of urgency. This information is needed to develop benchmarks in South Africa to ensure the development of effective air quality management plans as required by the new legislation.
An increase in the ambient air monitoring stations that are linked to source monitoring.

Andy Birkinshaw from the Table View Residents Association has said that it is hoped that this visit will be the beginning of the implementation of the air quality bill. “We are still being poisoned by Caltex and implementation needs to start as soon as possible!”

For more information please contact:

Andy Birkinshaw – 083 703 0183 (Table View Residents Association)

Ardiel Soeker – 082 940 8669 (groundWork)

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[1] N.W. White, R.I. Ehrlich, J. te Water Naude, A. Schutte, N. Essack, W. Roberts. A STUDY OF ALLERGIC DISEASES AND THE URBAN ENVIRONMENT IN THE NORTHERN COMMUNITIES OF CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA (2003).