EMB won’t close yet Pampanga steel plants

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO — The Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) has yet to order the closure of three steel smelting plants in Pampanga province, although an investigation by the agency had concluded that the factories violated Republic Act (RA) No. 8749, or the Philippine Clean Air Act.

Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu had ordered the investigation of Melters Steel Corp., Real Steel Corp. and Wan Chiong Steel Corp. after air quality tests commissioned by the Clean Air Philippines Movement Inc. (Capmi) confirmed high levels of pollution by the steel plants.

The plants were located in San Simon town across the North Luzon Expressway. Wan Chiong runs eight induction furnaces; Melters, six and Real, 10.

Violations

The EMB’s air quality management section (AQMS) issued its findings in a memorandum after inspections and collection of air quality samples on Dec. 11 to 15 last year.

Finding violations of RA 8749 and the terms in their environmental compliance certificates (ECCs), EMB ordered its Central Luzon office to issue notices of violations to Wan Chiong and Melters for operating their air pollution source installations without permits to operate and to Real for running air pollution control devices without permit.

EMB-Central Luzon was also directed to review the ECCs of the steel plants and to require them to install a continuous emission monitoring system for particulate matter or a continuous monitoring system for particulate opacity. These were devices designed to reduce pollution.

It was not clear, though, if the devices had been installed already.

More devices

The EMB national office required the three steel plants to install closed circuit television cameras on each of their stacks, which should be equipped to transmit real-time digital information of the stack emission to the EMB-Central Luzon file transfer protocol server.

EMB-Central Luzon issued notices of violations and cease and desist orders to Melters and Wan Chiong in June 2017, which resumed operations only after the two firms installed additional antipollution devices.

But Jerry Capulong, AQMS officer in charge, said Capmi’s findings had yet to be validated because tests on air samples taken from smokestacks were still not final.

The EMB recommended more stack tests on Melters and Real and directed the three companies to improve or install safe sampling ports. —TONETTE OREJAS