Singapore open to legal action against errant firms as haze crisis worsens

Singapore will “keep its options open” on taking legal action against errant companies as air quality in the city state deteriorates to very unhealthy levels.

Singapore is collecting data on the haze as it weighs possible action under its Transboundary Haze Pollution Act, the Straits Times reported on Wednesday, citing Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu.

The law, enacted in 2014, targets those responsible for causing or condoning fires if the resulting haze causes the Pollutant Standards Index (PSI), a measure of air quality, to remain in the unhealthy range for 24 hours or more.

The gauge ranged between 125 and 206 across the island as of 6am local time, with the western region recording the highest reading. Air quality is considered “very unhealthy” when 24-hour PSI levels are 201 and above. A reading above 300 is considered “hazardous” and would trigger school closures.

Several Southeast Asian countries have been blanketed for weeks by toxic haze from forest fires in Indonesia. Governments are under pressure to step up and coordinate a response to what is shaping up to be the worst such episode in more than a decade.

Singapore remains ready to offer help to Indonesia and there has not been any update from the neighbouring country so far, Fu was quoted as saying.

Those found guilty under the Act face fines of up to S$100,000 (US$77,855) a day, capped at S$2 million in total.

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PSI readings in all five regions were in the “unhealthy” range, the third level in the government’s five-step scale. Some sports facilities in the west of the city state were closed on Wednesday.

Some lawmakers cancelled house visits in their constituencies as the pollution worsened, while the government is distributing N95 masks to eligible Singaporeans and opening haze shelters at some community spaces.

The city state’s haze task force is working with retailers to replenish supplies of the masks and ensure they remain available to the public, the National Environment Agency said, adding that retailers and the government have sufficient stocks.

Aerial firefighting efforts in Indonesia have recently been hampered by poor visibility. However, the country is repurposing a weather-modification technique pioneered in the 1940s in its latest effort to fight the pollution.

Aircraft will disperse pellets of dry ice above South Sumatra province in an experimental approach that authorities hope will reduce the hazardous smoke.