Why Singapore fined a smoker $15,000

SINGAPORE - Singapore has fined a smoker S$19,800 ($15,000) for throwing cigarette butts out of his flat window, the National Environment Agency said, the highest ever such fine.

The man was fined S$600 per cigarette for the first 33 offences, and ordered to do community service for the 34th, all committed within four days, the agency said.

The 38-year-old smoker, who was caught on surveillance camera, will have to clean a public area for five hours wearing a bright vest bearing the words "Corrective Work Order".

Singapore, famous for its cleanliness, cracks down hard on even minor crimes like littering and vandalism, which is punishable by caning, and bans the import of chewing gum, in part to keep its public areas spotless.

The agency said on its website it deployed surveillance cameras at nearly 600 locations and took 206 enforcement actions against offenders for high-rise littering in 2014.

It did not say which floor the smoker lived on.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Singapore air pollution slips into unhealthy level

SINGAPORE - Singapore's air pollution rose to unhealthy levels on Monday, the National Environment Agency said, as winds changed direction and brought in light smoke from forest fires in neighboring Indonesia.

Singapore is in the middle of its "haze" season, when smoke from forest clearing in Indonesia traditionally chokes the air, but this year has been practically haze free, despite warnings in May it was going to be worse than 2013's record pollution.

The three-hour Pollution Standards Index broke above 100, the level beyond which the air is considered unhealthy, at 1 a.m. and remained above that level into the daylight hours, the government agency said on its website.

The NEA warned on Sunday that if the wind blew from the southwest, Singapore could experience occasional haze from fires on Indonesia's Sumatra island.

The smoke blanketed Singapore last June, pushing the air pollution index to a record 401.

In August, Singapore's parliament passed a bill proposing fines for companies that cause pollution regardless of whether the companies operate on the island, though it remains to be seen how the law can be enforced.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Singapore smog breaches 'hazardous' level

Smog levels in Singapore from Indonesian forest fires hit the highest level on record Wednesday as the air pollutant index breached the "hazardous" level.

The index soared to 321 at 10:00 pm (1400 GMT), according the the website of the National Environment Agency (NEA), well past the 300-mark considered "hazardous".

Before Wednesday, Singapore's most severe haze reading was in September 1997 when the number peaked at 226.

Anything above 200 is considered "very unhealthy", particularly to the elderly, young children and people with heart and lung disease.

When levels hit hazardous, vulnerable people can experience "early onset of certain diseases in addition to significant aggravation of (already present) symptoms," the NEA said. Healthy people also find it harder to exercise in such conditions, the agency added.

Now that the pollution levels have topped the 300 threshold, elderly people with existing heart or lung diseases are advised to stay indoors and the general population to "avoid vigorous outdoor activity", according to government guidelines.

The smog, which had been worsening since Monday, triggered a run on medical masks and angry complaints from foreign tourists and locals.

"We are going to leave Singapore two days early because we are having trouble breathing," said Zac Kot, 40, a business owner from the United States who was on holiday with his wife and two young girls.

Indignant Singaporeans attacked their government on the web for its handling of the problem. Disposable medical masks flew off drugstores' shelves as consumers and companies bought them in bulk and placed orders for more.

Even tourists from Indonesia -- traditionally the largest source of visitors to Singapore -- protested about the smoky haze from Sumatra island, where some farmers and plantations deliberately set off fires to clear land for cultivation.

"It's not very good, and it's getting harder to breathe. I just don't know where to go," said Rangga Adisapoetra, 30, a risk management executive from Indonesia's main island Java attending a mobile communications and broadcasting expo.

"Maybe tomorrow, I'll visit Universal Studios," he told AFP, temporarily lifting a grey face mask to speak.

The pollution problem peaks during the June-September dry season, when monsoon winds transport thick clouds of smoke from Sumatra to neighboring Singapore and Malaysia.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Singapore closes beaches as oil spill spreads

(philstar.com) Updated May 27, 2010 03:19 PM

SINGAPORE
(AP) — Singapore closed beaches along 7.2 kilometers (4.5 miles) of its east coast as an oil spill from a damaged tanker continued to spread Thursday.

Blotches of rust-colored oil floated next to a breaker wall at a ferry terminal while the nearby National Sailing Center, which usually gives daily classes to hundreds of school students, shut its doors.

A pungent stench has now enveloped the eastern coastline — an area that is normally packed on weekends with families, roller-bladers and cyclists enjoying the sand, sea and some of the island's best seafood restaurants.

"The smell was so bad yesterday, it made me nauseous," said Ho Shufen, a manager at the sailing center. "I don't expect anyone would want to come here until the smell is gone."

About 18,000 barrels of light crude oil spilled from the Malaysian-registered tanker MT Bunga Kelana 3 after it collided with the St. Vincent's and The Grenadines-registered bulk carrier MV Waily early Tuesday in the Singapore Strait about eight miles (13 kilometers) southeast of the city-state's east coast.

The National Environment Agency said it would take the "next few days" to clean up the coastline and advised the public to stay away from affected beaches.

Officials deployed oil dispersants and 3,300 meters (10,800 feet) of containment booms in an unsuccessful bid to keep the slick from fouling the coast.

Officials at the ferry terminal said the oil spill hasn't affected its services.