Port Elizabeth remains the only city where Chevron does not have a vapour recovery unit that would help curb emissions at its Dom Pedro oil tank farm terminal.
This was revealed by a delegation during a public participation meeting at the Radisson Blu on Wednesday, 10 December.
Only three people registered and applied as interested and affected parties. One, Dr Paul Martin, cancelled.
The others were supposed to show up at Chevron's presentation during which the firm explained its application for a postponement to comply with Minimum Emissions Standards.
Chevron, parent company of Caltex, cited delays in moving Port Elizabeth's oil tank farm to Coega as its reason for deferring compliance.
A vapour recovery unit cost R20m and would take 18 months to set up. Once installed, it could not be reused elsewhere.
Chevron had installed such units in Gauteng, Cape Town and East London. Port Elizabeth was "a unique case".
Spokeswoman Suzanne Pullinger said: "Chevron SA confirms it has applied for a postponement of the compliance timeframe for the installation of a vapour recovery unit."
Environmentalist Martin was not surprised that only two other people had registered to attend the meeting.
"It's a bit like the fish farm. No one showed up during the consultation period, but everyone was up in arms when the authorisation was granted.
"Unfortunately online petitions do not do much to influence an application as they do not need to be officially recorded or responded to."
By the time of going to print no one had turned up for the public participation process.
Shell has also applied for a postponement and held public participation meetings earlier this year.
It has also used the services of uMoya-NILU.
Source: Herald
