Hello readers! Let us finally look at the legal aspects of air pollution! As discussed in our previous posts, there are multiple dualities to air pollution – sources (point and diffuse), air pollution (indoors and outdoors), air pollutants (primary and secondary) and impacts (direct and indirect). Just by these broad categories alone, we would have 2⁴, or 16 combinations of laws just to govern air pollution! In this post, we will be focusing on domestic air pollution.

Once again, we will be looking at the Environmental Protection and Management Act (EPMA). However, do note that Singapore has a myriad of laws to govern different aspects of air pollution. Other related laws include the Smoking (Prohibition in Certain Places) Act to tackle pollution from smoking and the Road Traffic Act to tackle vehicular emissions.

 

EPMA definition of air pollution

Under the EPMA, industrial and trade premises are to (amongst other things) maintain equipment that prevent “air pollution” (Section 10), prevent the emission of “dark smoke” from their premise (Section 11) and limit the emission of certain “air impurities” below a prescribed quota (Section 12) (SSO, 2002).

The EPMA defines air pollutants and impurities under Section 2 as:

“air pollution means the emission into the air of any air impurity.

air impurity includes smoke, cinders, solid particles of any kind, gases, fumes, mists, odours and radioactive substances” (SSO, 2002)

In general, we felt that both definitions are defined rather well. What caught our attention was Section 11 on “dark smoke”.

 

EPMA Section 11 – Dark smoke and the Ringelmann smoke chart 

Under the Environmental Protection and Management (Air Impurities) Regulations (SSO, 2008):

Section 2(1)(a): “Dark smoke” includes any smoke that is darker than No. 1 on the Ringelmann Chart .

Section 2(1)(b): This observation may be done through personal observation, instruments or records.

Section 2(1)(c): “Dark smoke” also includes any other coloured smoke with opacity making it appear darker than Ringelmann shade No. 1.

What you see is what you get?

In our previous posts, we mentioned that air pollution can harm human health long before we can see it. External factors, such as humidity, can also influence visibility (Chen et al., 2013). If visibility is not a good indicator of air pollution and quality (Tan, 2015), why should we care about “dark smoke”?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unbeknownst to us, clear skies are good for our mental health. Whether consciously or subconsciously, we rely heavily on our sight to judge our surroundings. Even if a pollutant only causes poor visibility with no adverse health impacts, the mere perception of air pollution can lead to poorer mental health in the form of stress and depression symptoms (Hyslop, 2009). Regardless of the toxicity of the pollutant, the indirect effect it causes should be accounted for as well.

 

Remembering the Pollutant Transfer Continuum 

From water to air pollution laws, we have observed that Singapore’s pollution laws place a surprising emphasis on aesthetic appearance. While we have previously ignored its importance, we have now come to appreciate and include it into our consideration. This allows us to account for both the direct and indirect impacts of pollution, making our definitions more holistic. Thus, it seems that Singapore’s air pollution laws are pretty well thought out!

However, the atmosphere knows no territorial boundaries. While we have observed good air pollution laws domestically, how will Singapore laws fare when attempting to govern air pollution arising from other countries? In our upcoming posts, we shall learn more about transboundary air pollution.

 

Stay tuned!

Lee Yang

 

Bonus Content: Statutes and subsidiary legislation

Some of you readers might be wondering: what is the difference between the Act and the Regulation?

The Act, also known as the “statute”, is the overarching law written and enacted by the Singapore Parliament; the Regulation, also known as the “subsidiary legislation”, is the law created by ministers or specific ministries (Chan, 1995). Both types of laws hold equal weight, the only difference being that the subsidiary legislation is not written by the Singapore Parliament although it must be intra vires, which is Latin for “within the powers”. This means that the subsidiary legislation must be written under the authority of a statute (Chan, 1995).

Simply put, an Act decides the law while its Regulation supports and regulates the Act.

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References

Chan, H. M. H. (1995). The legal system of Singapore.

Chen, J., Qiu, S., Shang, J., Wilfrid, O. M., Liu, X., Tian, H., & Boman, J. (2013). Impact of relative humidity and water soluble constituents of PM2. 5 on visibility impairment in Beijing, China. Aerosol and Air Quality Research, 14(1), 260-268.

Hyslop, N. P. (2009). Impaired visibility: the air pollution people see. Atmospheric environment, 43(1), 182-195.

SSO. (2002). Environmental Protection and Management Act. Singapore Retrieved from https://sso.agc.gov.sg/Act/EPMA1999.

SSO. (2008). Environmental Protection and Management (Air Impurities) Regulations. Singapore Retrieved from https://sso.agc.gov.sg/SL/EPMA1999-RG8#

Tan, A. (2015). Visibility is not the best indicator of air quality: NEA. Straits Times. Retrieved from https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/environment/visibility-is-not-the-best-indicator-of-air-quality-nea