It has been a slow few months. Typically, production at the Oceana fishmeal factory slows down during winter – the wet weather makes it difficult to go out to sea and with low fish catches there is intermittent production. As a result, the odour pollution that we commonly experience is also less. It’s nice to be reminded of what a clean, non-polluting harbour can be like. During this quiet period, we’ve been following up on a number of things, as outlined in this update.
1. City Denies Public Disclosure of Oceana’s Atmospheric Emissions Licence (AEL)
In January 2018, Oceana received a new AEL for their production, which included the use of formalin (a type of formaldehyde) in their production processes, along with a cocktail of other chemicals, including Hydrogen Sulphide and Trimethylamines.
The AEL was granted after a very suspicious public participation process where members of the public commented on the impact of Oceana’s operations. FAHB appealed this decision, but this was denied by the City. Since then, FAHB applied for a copy of the AEL through the Public Access to Information Act (PAIA) to understand what the terms and conditions of Oceana’s production are.
After months of waiting, in October 2018 the City of Cape Town denied our request for access to the AEL on the grounds that “the records contain trade secrets, financial and commercial information relating to the business of [Lucky Star Ltd.]” and that they were mandated to protect commercial information, particularly if the disclosure of information “would be likely to cause harm to the commercial or financial interests of that third party.”
FAHB submitted an appeal to this decision in November 2018 on the following grounds:
- The public has a Constitutional right to know what industries’ impacts are on health and the environment, and to monitor compliance with the conditions of operation.
- Understanding the conditions of the AEL, as well as monitoring their compliance with this, is vital for the exercise and protection of our Constitutional right to an environment that is not harmful to our health or wellbeing.
- In 2016, the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) determined that all environmental licences should be made available to the public automatically, including AELs. As such, there is no logical reason for the AEL to be denied to FAHB.
- It is a requirement that all applications for AELs are made available for public comment and this was done through the public participation process in 2017. It is not clear on what basis the Municipality can argue that the AEL is now confidential or contain ‘secrets’ relating to the industry. Considering the public nature of the application of the AEL, there is no logical reason why the final AEL should now be denied to the public.
- Municipalities, as licensing authorities for air polluters, have an essential role to play in ensuring that this right is respected and protected, and in promoting the Constitutional objective of an open society. The denial to disclose the AEL is in contravention to this objective and can be considered as a failure on the part of government to ensure transparency in environmental governance.
This is not the first time the City and Oceana have refused to disclose information. There is a long history of these delaying tactics and it is yet another demonstration of how the City and Oceana use their power to prevent or delay this issue from being addressed. A response from the City may take up to 120 days.
2. Formalising FAHB as a Volunteer Association
Over the past six months, FAHB has also been going through the process of formally registering as a Volunteer Association. Once this is complete, we hope to have better access to information and to be able to engage more effectively with the City. All documents relating to FAHB, including our constitution and membership details, will be made available in our next update.
3. Economic Opportunities for the Harbour Being Explored
In March 2018, members of FAHB met with the City to raise concerns about the on-going odour pollution. One of the outcomes of this meeting was information that there is an initiative to explore economic opportunities in the harbour, driven by Councillor Rob Quintas and Councillor Suzette Little.
By way of update, Councillor Quintas informed us that there is ongoing work being done by the Hout Bay Partnership and renewed interest and commitment by the City Mayor and Premier Elect Alan Winde in the Municipality taking over management of small boat harbours from the National Department of Public Works. A meeting has been set up with Councillor Quintas for early January 2019 and a more comprehensive update will be available at that time.
4. Moving Forward
As always, we will continue to do our best to gather information, raise awareness and advocate for this important issue – we have a right to live in a healthy environment and it is the responsibility of all of us to help ensure this happens.
It is also important to remember that 2019 is an election year and all political parties will be doing their best to secure votes. No matter what political party you belong to, we urge you to raise this issue within your political groups, advocate for change, and hold your representatives to account. This issue continues to be ignored, decisions continue to be delayed, and we have yet to see any clear indication that it is being addressed.
We must hold our political representatives to account and cast our vote based on both their principles and their ability to bring about change.
While we expect production to be limited as we go into the festive season, we would like to remind you about the importance of sending emails to the City every time you are impacted by the odour pollution. Yes, it is tedious. Yes, you get the same generic responses. Yes, it feels like you are being ignored. But, sending these complaints is the most important way of continuously documenting our concerns and keeping pressure on the City to enact change.
As a reminder, here is the list of email addresses you need to include: Meroline.Ockhuis@capetown.gov.za, JeanPierre.Smith@capetown.gov.za, Ian.Gildenhuys@capetown.gov.za, Ed.Filby@capetown.gov.za, Suzette.Little@capetown.gov.za, Roberto.Quintas@capetown.gov.za, Monwabisi.Mbaliswana@capetown.gov.za, ZimkithaCleopatra.Ntelezi@capetown.gov.za, Mayor.Mayor@capetown.gov.za, hbfishfactory.management@ob.co.za, Titanias@luckystar.co.za, OlwethuM@luckystar.co.za, kiara.worth@gmail.com.
We would like to thank everyone for their continued support throughout the year – your emails and messages have helped to keep pressure on government and while the road may be long, we are still on it. We are certain that by working together, we will be able to overcome the challenge of air pollution in Hout Bay.
We wish you all a happy and odour-free festive season, ready to start the new year with the fresh determination needed to make Hout Bay a better place for us all.
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If you have any questions regarding this update or information or ideas you would like to share, please feel free to get in touch.
