In May 2015, the ministry of environment, forests and climate change pro posed rules to curb air pollution from coal-fired power plants. At first glance, the draft notification may seem like a breath of fresh air. The proposed standards are comparable to stringent international levels for units installed after 2017. But while promising the heaven in the future, it condemns communities like those in Ennore and Kathivakkam, currently living next to power plants to distress. The notification specifies lax emission standards for plants built before 2003 and from 2003 to 2006 but does not specify any standards for plants installed between 2006 and 2017. According to the Central Electricity Authority, nearly 100,000MW of coal-fired plants were set up between 2007 and 2015. In Tamil Nadu, some 6,000MW of coal plants in state, private and joint venture would be operating - a majority already producing power - by the end of 2016. These include new plants in Vallur and Puzhuthivakkam, North of Ennore. Air pollution from these plants are by no means local.Riding the air waves, they settle like a killer blanket over North Chennai, and extend well into the main city as well.
Air pollution should not be taken lightly . Earlier this year, the World Health Organisation declared that air pollution had caused 7 million premature deaths in 2012 - twice as many mortalities as TB, malaria and HIV combined. Another cele brated study called the Global Burden of Diseases found that outdoor air pollution was the fifth most significant health risk for Indians, accounting for 627,000 deaths every year.Burning of coal, India's declared fuel of choice for electricity, is a primary contributor to the total air pollution load.
Burning of coal releases sulphur dioxide, nitrous oxides, Particulate Matter or respirable dust, and heavy metals like mercury , arsenic, lead and cadmium. Sulphur dioxide is a potent lung irritant. Respirable dust, which is invisible, goes deep into the respiratory system and lodges itself in our lungs. In North Chennai, the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board has recorded Particulate Matter at levels exceeding 300 microgramsm3. Even lax Indian guidelines classify such levels as "hazardous" to health.
Respirable dust is known to cause strokes, heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disorders, acute lower respiratory infections in children and lung cancer. People suffering from other diseases of the respiratory tract will be worse off under heightened air pollution. India already has the dubious distinction of being home to 20% of the world's TB patients.
The Ennore Thermal Power Station is made up of units less than 500 MW and was set up prior to 2003. The proposed notification is lenient on emissions from such old units. They can continue to emit three times the sulphur dioxide and particulate matter when compared to plants in China. For Chennai residents, the promise of stringent standards on newer plants makes little sense.North Chennai cannot take any more new power plants. Regulations should focus on curbing pollutants from existing plants.
In China, power plants operating or coming up in certain critically polluted areas are subject to very stringent air quality regulations. Such a stance is in line with scientific knowledge that incremental increases in pollution in already polluted areas can have vastly increased health risks.
The draft notification also underestimates the deadliness of mercury. This harmless looking silver liquid metal is present as a trace element in coal. When coal is burned, a majority of mercury is vapourised and released through the smokestack. Mercury quickly condenses and settles on the ground and is washed into waterbodies with every passing rain. Once in the waterbodies, it changes form into methyl mercury - a deadly neurotoxin.Mercury can damage the brain, kidneys and peripheral nervous system, and can cause birth defects.
Because it is a persistent poison, stopping all its emissions from the power plant today will still not spare the people and environment exposed to historical emissions. Blood, hair and food samples from Singrauli in Madhya Pradesh -that have more than 9,000 MW of coal-fired plants -were found to be severely contaminated with mercury .
However, the notification's proposed standard for mercury is 10 to 30 times less than US health-based standards. Plants such as the ones in Ennore are not subject to any mercury regulation despite them being surrounded by ecologically sensitive and fisheries-rich waterbodies on the west and the Bay of Bengal to the east.
India's environmental policy and regulations do not reflect a health-based understanding. Well-planned development can contribute to national economy; ill-planned development that does not factor in health costs can erode the nation's productivity .
(Dr Hisamuddin Papa is a pulmonologist who has done research on tuberculosis)
