Baku, Azerbaijan, June 2
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
Three Iranian lawyer have filed a complaint against ex-oil minister Masoud Mirkazemi on the charge of endangering public health.
Mostafa Tork Hamedani, one of the lawyers, said that the complaint is regarding the production of gasoline by petrochemical units during the administration of former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's Tasnim news agency reported on June 2.
The gasoline produced by the country's petrochemical units was highly pollutant and endangering to the health of citizens. They suffered a great deal of financial losses as well," the lawmaker said.
Mirkazemi, who is now a member of parliament, on the other hand, denies the charges, saying that the gasoline produced at petrochemical complexes is not polluting.
He said the issue was discussed in detail at a meeting of the parliament's Energy Commission.
"Iran daily produces 17 million liters of gasoline conforming to Euro-4 standard. The rest of the country's gasoline output, no matter produced in the petrochemical complexes or old oil refineries, are the same," he said. "If we consider the gasoline produced in petrochemical complexes polluting, then the gasoline produced in the old oil refineries should be considered polluting as well."
According to the oil ministry, Iran's petrochemical complexes will not produce gasoline and octane booster anymore.
The decision was made because the gasoline produced in petrochemical complexes has been reported as polluting.
Head of Iran's Department of Environment, Massoumeh Ebtekar, said on February 9 that the gasoline produced in petrochemical complexes is highly polluting.
Iranian petrochemical complexes started producing gasoline once the United States put gasoline trades with Iran under sanctions.
Managing director of National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company (NIORDC), Abbas Kazemi, said on April 13 that Iran plans to daily import 10 million liters of gasoline to compensate for stopping production of gasoline in petrochemical complexes.
Speaking of pollution, Iran's Tehran is considered to be among the most polluted cities in the world.
Last year, according to PSI (Pollutant Standards Index), Iran had 147 days during which air quality was substandard. Two years ago, this number stood at 217 days.