| A reflection on enviro-impact assessments - 2010/07/30 | |
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News Article: 5894 has been read 201 times. |
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| I might not believe in global warming, but I do believe in environmental-impact assessments. However, I do have a problem. Let us suppose that a firm proposes to construct a mine. It advises that, to keep the workings clear, it will be pumping 372-million litres of water out of the workings each day. This will cause a large number of freshwater springs to dry up. It will process ore and, when done, the ore will be piled high into a dump. The dump will contain traces of cyanide, mercury and uranium. Some of the process will produce a sludge that will be funnelled to a dam, where it will finally evaporate, leaving behind a caustic residue. The mine will consume a considerable amount of electricity and this will cause peri- odic brownouts and dips and spikes in the main system power supply. Traffic on local roads will increase by about 50%, and noise levels will increase day and night. A mine headgear about 50 m high will be con- structed, and it will cause visual pollution. So, will the mine project go ahead? Many would say it should not, on the basis of what has been stated. But the point is that these conditions are exactly what was created by many mines constructed on the Witwatersrand in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s: slimes dams, headgears, water-table changes, visual pollution . . . So, would we have been better off without the mines? Absolutely not. The South African economy is largely driven by mining and the money that comes from the mines allows us to be a successful nation today. The other matter is this: when I was young, Johannesburg was surrounded by mine dumps – big hills of processed ore that had become sand. The sand would blow off the dumps and pollute the streets. No vegetation would grow on the dumps owing to the caustic nature of the processed ore. But, one by one, the dumps have disappeared. As the land they rested on became more valuable because the residual gold content of the ore had made it economic for the ore to be reprocessed, the ore was once again run through the mill and the dumps vanished. Only a few are left now. So my point is this: should we allow pollution to take place if the benefit to the community is great? Do we say, well, let it happen and, in the future, rehabilitation will be possible? Do we say, look, it’s not necessary for us to be around or alive when that rehabilitation takes place, as long as it does? The argument for this is that the growth of industry is not limited by environmental regulations that are too stiff. The argument against is that, in one’s own life time, one sees part of the environment destroyed, never to be restored as far as one knows. But still there are precedents against being not too stiff. If a large coastal town needs electricity, we construct large power lines to supply the town. Depending on how this is done, a power line servitude allows for the con- struction of another power line in the servitude if needs increase. And that line creates another servitude, which allows for another line, and so on, ending up with the situation in Richards Bay, where there are about six lines all marching across what was once a wetland. This is the difficulty. If you open the door a crack, then the industrialists and miners charge through it. If you don’t open the door at all, the result is a falling local and national economy. What is needed is to accept that the world places economic pressure on all countries and the countries have to feed and assist their citizens. In doing so, industry has to grow – you can’t cop out. But the matter has to be thought out carefully. Today, for example, there is no Robinson Deep mine. Where it once was is housing and roads. It is, thus, possible to pollute and recover. But how do we force that recovery when the mine/factory/plant shuts down? I don’t know. Terry Mackenzie-hoy First published in EN. |
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| Source: Terry Mackenzie-hoy | Date: 2010/07/30 |
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