Chevron, the oil giant previously known as Caltex, has been a thorn in the side of the surrounding communities for many years. It would be hard to recall an instance when somebody had something nice to say about the refinery.

On the contrary, there is mostly enthusiastic consensus amongst the local population that whoever had the bright idea to establish an oil refinery in a residential area in the first place, ought to have been shot.

Be that as it may, Chevron is here to stay and very unlikely to disappear into thin air one auspicious day.

It is an essential industry that also provides employment for a lot of people.

The fact that the refinery has spent over a hundred million rand on a new wastewater treatment plant shows a commitment to the environment and to the precepts of good neighbourliness.

There is, of course, always the possibility that they might never have spent all that money had it not been for the fearless stand of the local kitesurfer fraternity who refused to accept the level of pollution in the sea.

But that not being a nice thing to say, let us rather congratulate Chevron on getting it right with the wastewater. Now we are look?ing forward to reporting on clean?er air in the near future.