POLLUTION CONTROL

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32407, 21 September 1970, Page 14

POLLUTION CONTROL

Proof needed before study (From Our Own Reporter) WELLINGTON, Sept. 17. Until there is proof of the feasibility of a process of controlling air 'pollution from sulphur dioxide there is no likelihood of a New Zealand expert being sent to America to study the process. The Minister of Mines (Mr Shelton) gave this answer in the course of a written reply to a question by Mr P. Blanchfield (Lab., Westland) which was based on an article in “The Press” on September 5. “The article referred to, states that the United States Government, on the advice of the National Academy of Science, announced on July 8 the award of a contract to a Pittsburgh firm to build a pilot plant to prove the technical and economic feasibility of the process, which promises to remove sulphur from coal inside the furnaces of electricity generating plants,” Mr Shelton said. “Until it is known whether the process is technically and economically feasible, there would be little to be gained from a visit to the United States, especially in the absence of proposals to build coal-fired electricity generating plant in New Zealand. “However,- the development of the process and its possible application to the control of pollution in other types of plant will be closely watched.”