Low-Quality Gasoline, Air Pollution Culprit; Parliament Questions Oil Minister
As air pollution reaches crisis levels, the Energy Commission of Parliament reported low-quality gasoline production and non-compliance with standards at refineries. The Ministry of Oil attributes the problem to old vehicles. An official says the automobile mafia won’t allow clean air.
Iranian media reported, citing the Meteorological Organization, that Tehran will breathe tomorrow, but today Tehranis experienced one of the most severe and polluted days of the week.
People in Tehran today experienced “the most severe air pollution situation.” The Ministry of Health warned that the average air pollution index at all Tehran monitoring stations was 175, which is unhealthy for all individuals. Additionally, in zones 18, 2, and 11, very high pollution indices were reported.
According to the report from Tehran’s Air Quality Control Company on today and tonight, the fourth day of Dey month (December 25), with stable air and atmospheric calm and increased traffic, suspended particles in most areas entered the throats and lungs of capital residents, making everyone aware that Tehran’s air quality is in a concerning situation.
This condition will continue until late tomorrow night, Thursday the 5th of Dey month, perhaps until wind blows and people remove their masks from their faces and perhaps wish they could grab mountaineering boots and a canteen and head to the heart of mountains and deserts; but without a car. The reason is that the issue of “low-quality gasoline production” has come up again in recent days.
“Low-Quality Gasoline”; Parliament’s Insistence and Oil Ministry’s Denial
Despite all the efforts of Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, the Oil Minister, and statements issued by this ministry, some members of Parliament’s Energy Commission again stated that low-quality domestically produced gasoline plays a significant role in air pollution in Iran’s cities.
Ali Bakhtiari, a member of Parliament’s Energy Commission, told ISNA that a number of the country’s refineries do not comply with environmental regulations, and part of Tehran and major cities’ air pollution results from non-compliance with environmental standards.
Referring to uniform gasoline prices across the country, he stated that for many refineries, using purifiers is not cost-effective. The consequence, according to this parliament member, is that some of the country’s refineries produce low-quality gasoline without complying with environmental standards.
Officials at the Oil Ministry, however, continue to defend the quality of domestically produced gasoline. The National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company issued two statements over the past three days, emphasizing that air pollution has no connection to produced gasoline.
Tehran’s Air Quality Control Company, while announcing in a report that more than 80 percent of pollution sources in Tehran’s vehicles come from trucks, buses, and minibuses, added that the fuel consumed by any of these vehicles is not gasoline.
“This Gasoline and Diesel Contain No Sulfur”
Daily reports on Tehran’s Air Quality Control Company website show that in the most polluted days of last week (late Azar to early Dey month), the pollution index resulting from sulfur content in gasoline was around 15, which according to company officials is far below the permitted limit of 50. According to officials of Tehran’s Air Quality Control Company, air pollution in major cities does not come from gasoline and diesel.
Oil and refining officials, defending refinery operations, released another report announcing that 91 million liters of the country’s 112 million liter gasoline production capacity, produced at Persian Gulf Star refinery (45 million liters), Imam Khomeini Shahzand (16 million liters), Isfahan (12 million liters), Bandar Abbas (6 million liters), Tabriz (3 million liters), Tehran (6 million liters), and Lavan (3 million liters), is sulfur-free.
The report notes that 79 million liters of total produced gasoline, in terms of all environmental components including sulfur, benzene, aromatics, and olefins, meets Euro 4 standard.
With the re-implementation of the gasoline rationing plan from Aban month, approximately 20 million liters daily reduction in gasoline consumption has been recorded. Simultaneously, the increase in gasoline prices triggered waves of nationwide protests in Iran.
Despite all these efforts and statistics, air pollution in major cities, especially Tehran, continues, and questions to the Oil Minister about low-quality gasoline and diesel fuel production remain on the Parliament’s Energy Commission agenda to be reviewed next week.
Old Engines and Vehicles, Turned into Disasters
After gasoline quality, old vehicles including motorcycles have always been recognized as culprits in air pollution. But how much pollution do these vehicles produce? The Oil Minister blames non-standard motorcycles and told ISNA: “As it is said, each non-standard motorcycle produces as much pollution as 7 cars. We have a large number of non-standard motorcycles.”
Meanwhile, results of studies by JICA, a Japanese research institute, on air pollution in Tehran and several other major cities show that 75 to 85 percent of Tehran’s air pollution comes from mobile sources, namely cars, motorcycles, and other vehicles. This is something Abbas Shahsoni, head of the Air Health and Climate Change Group of the Environmental Health and Work Center at the Ministry of Health, confirmed and said automakers should consider themselves obligated to comply with the Clean Air Law.
“They Lobby and Circumvent the Law”
Shahsoni considers trucks, motorcycles, and personal vehicles as the most important sources of Tehran’s pollutants and at the same time speaks of circumventing the law: “Instead of motorcyclists and automakers lobbying every day and trying to circumvent the Clean Air Law, if they implement the law, the air pollution problem would be solved.”
Under the Clean Air Law, driving, buying, selling, and insuring old vehicles are prohibited, and installing soot filters on trucks and vehicles is mandatory. However, Shahsoni considers compliance with these measures as wishes to be implemented one day. Statistics from the Environmental Protection Organization show that until Khordad of this year, there were 9 million old motorcycles that still traffic on streets and roads.
“A Gift from the Automobile Mafia to the Environmental Protection Organization”
Automobile mafia is a term used by Isa Kalantari, head of the Environmental Protection Organization. Speaking to media about the role of the automobile mafia in increasing air pollution, he said: “The automobile mafia has so much financial power that they can purchase decision-makers, so certainly we face such atmospheric conditions and air stagnation. When Iran Khodro gifts four cars to the Environmental Protection Organization, it means we should have polluted air and millions of people breathe it.”
Currently, although old vehicles are not allocated fuel cards, in more than eight major cities of the country there are 2 million, 108 thousand, and 424 light vehicles including sedans, vans, and taxis, 121 thousand and 853 heavy vehicles including buses, minibuses, trucks, trailors, and tractors, and 9 million old motorcycles that still traffic on streets and roads.
Convert to Gas!
While old vehicles continue to circulate and produce environmental pollution, Alireza Sadeqabadi, CEO of the National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company, announced that approximately one million and 500 thousand “public vehicles” will be converted to “gas fuel” within the next 12 to 15 months.
Environmental protection officials and Tehran’s Air Quality Control Company believe that converting public vehicles to gas fuel will reduce part of Tehran’s air pollution. Until the time these public gas-powered vehicles are produced, Pirouz Hanachi, Tehran’s mayor, said municipal management is looking to purchase cars and buses.
Tehran’s mayor, in response to ISNA’s question about why not a single rial has been allocated to developing public transportation in cities, especially Tehran, despite the increase in gasoline prices, said: “I have no discretion regarding the spending of these revenues, but I recommend that the government, either from fuel consumption savings or from resulting revenues, take steps to develop public transportation.”
Residents of polluted cities, facing this confusion and uncertainty about the unresolved air pollution crisis, hope that hospitals and clinics under the Ministry of Health and Medical Education are prepared to accept “sensitive groups” and shortness of breath patients. The air in three Tehran zones today and tonight is in a very unhealthy condition.
If rain even falls on these people, according to Health Ministry officials, it won’t cause any problems. Unexpected rain acts as medicine.
Source: DW
