The team of air-quality experts appointed by Marshal Cezary Przybylski presented the voivodeship board with recommendations and the first draft resolutions concerning restrictions on the use of installations and fuels that cause air pollution and smog.
The main assumptions of the drafts submitted by the experts are to eliminate the burning of poor-quality fuels and remove from use heating installations and furnaces that cause the poisonous emission of gases and dust into the atmosphere. At the same time, the experts concluded that it is not necessary to introduce identical regulations and restrictions in every area of the voivodeship.
Three different anti-smog resolution drafts have therefore been prepared: for the city of Wrocław, for spa towns and for the remaining towns and villages of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. “While working on the first anti-smog resolution drafts, we took into account a whole range of factors influencing the current state of the air, as well as different local conditions. Today, there is no town or village in Lower Silesia where standards are not exceeded. However, some places need to be treated particularly carefully. Such areas include, for example, spas, which, due to their formal and legal status, should offer residents and visitors air of significantly better quality than other localities. Today we are presenting the opinions and recommendations of specialists. The final form of the resolution will result from consultations commissioned by the local government from the Institute for Territorial Development,” explains Dr Maciej Zathey, the institute’s director.
The experts’ proposals include provisions on eliminating the burning of poor-quality fuels (lignite, coal slurries and coal flotation concentrates, together with fuels produced from them), limiting the creation of new emission sources, replacing furnaces with low-emission ones (that is, meeting Class 5 requirements for maximum pollutant-emission values), and banning the burning of solid fuels, including coal, in Wrocław.
Consultations with local governments, social partners (NGOs) and residents will therefore begin in April. “We want the final draft of the anti-smog resolution, or resolutions, to be created through a kind of consensus among everyone it will affect. The fight for clean and healthy air is our shared responsibility. It will not succeed without the participation of local governments, non-governmental organizations and residents’ understanding of this need. It will not succeed without the concrete involvement of the government institutions appointed for this purpose. We are counting very much on the state’s support, especially for residents,” emphasizes Cezary Przybylski, Marshal of the Voivodeship.
The consultations should last several months. Their results will be known after the summer holidays. “The procedure will be completed in November, when regional councillors will decide on the final form of the new regulations by adopting the anti-smog resolution,” explain voivodeship officials. “An important problem in drafting the resolution is the lack of relevant regulations concerning fuels and heating installations permitted for use in residential conditions. We have been waiting for these regulations for several years. There are also currently no systemic support instruments for residents who want or will have to replace their old furnaces with newer-generation devices in the future.
“From the beginning, we have said that the resolution itself will not solve the smog problem. Replacing old furnaces will be a major financial challenge for many people. Systemic support from the state will be necessary. Until recently, there were programs supporting the elimination of low emissions. Residents could apply to the Kawka program to replace furnaces, the Prosument program to install alternative energy sources, or the Ryś program for thermal insulation, which consequently reduced fuel consumption in furnaces and thus lowered harmful emissions. Unfortunately, they have been discontinued. The government promised other forms of assistance, but none have appeared so far,” adds C. Przybylski.
Alongside work on the resolution, efforts are under way to create financial support instruments for Lower Silesian residents who will have to replace their furnaces. The most natural source of such financing is the Voivodeship Fund for Environmental Protection, which, together with the Marshal’s Office, has developed such an instrument: a priority program to reduce low emissions in our region. The program provides financial support for furnace replacement. Its initial budget is to amount to PLN 50 million. Details of the program will be announced soon, once it has been approved by the fund’s authorities. This year, EU competitions dedicated to projects related to reducing air pollution will also be launched, and municipalities may participate in them. In 2014–2020, the European Union allocated more than EUR 290 million to our voivodeship to combat low emissions.
The resolution, which will be adopted at the end of the year, will not enter into force immediately. Given the high costs of the required investment, time will be needed to prepare for replacing furnaces or changing fuels. The expected effects will therefore be spread over time. The first restrictions are indeed to be introduced from 1 January 2018, but they will apply only to new investments, so as to prevent the further creation of harmful emission sources. According to the experts’ assumptions, residents should have at least seven years to adapt to the new regulations. This is also time to create and implement an appropriate state support policy. The Marshal believes, however, that this period should be extended.