In recent days, a public hearing was held regarding the Environmental Air Quality Standards, a session in which the participating stakeholders included the Ministry of Energy and Mines, the Ministry of Public Works and Communications, the Dominican Institute for Quality (INDOCAL), the Dominican Petroleum Refinery, Barrick Gold Dominicana, and environmental quality monitoring companies.
This proposed standard would replace, if approved, Standard NA-AI-001-03. Its objective is to establish the maximum permissible concentration levels of air pollutants in order to guarantee the protection of human health and the environment. Additionally, it introduces new provisions through Articles 4, 5, 5.1, 5.2, 6, and 6.1, which are highlighted below.
Article 4 refers to unconventional pollutants and substances that generate offensive odors. Meanwhile, Article 5 focuses on non-traditional pollutants, introducing a new classification that differentiates non-traditional pollutants from air pollutants, which are further classified into non-carcinogenic pollutants and carcinogenic pollutants. The former includes a table establishing the concentration limits and average exposure times for non-carcinogenic air pollutants. Regarding carcinogenic pollutants, two types of evaluations are contemplated: qualitative and quantitative assessments, accompanied by a table containing risk indicators for carcinogenic pollutants.
Article 6 establishes the criteria for identifying air pollution problems, granting the competent environmental authorities the authority to establish action programs regulating the different levels of air pollution alerts, as well as to zone the national territory according to each alert level. These levels are: prevention level, alert level, and emergency level.
Within the same article, paragraph 1 establishes, through a table, the concentration levels and exposure times for pollutants corresponding to the prevention, alert, and emergency levels.
During the public hearing, as is customary, observations and recommendations were submitted, the most significant of which related to the parameters imposed by the standard, as it was argued that such parameters were excessively low and therefore impossible to comply with. Other observations addressed the following issues:
- The standard contains editing errors.
- The methodology to be used for measuring the parameters should be established.
- Circulation permits should be provided in order to authorize the transit or operation of certain pollutant-producing sources, and such permits should be issued by internationally accredited companies for these purposes.
- The standard does not establish the compliance period required for adaptation.
- It was also mentioned that the tables create confusion, since the values expressed do not correspond with the sources provided.
Interested parties wishing to submit formal observations may do so by means of a letter addressed to the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources within the next thirty days.
