Opinion
- Editorial
John
Spence:
Aluminium smelting symposium
The
decision by the Prime Minister to have the National
Energy Corporation convene a national consultation
on aluminium smelting is to be welcomed. However,
the time and process applied to this exercise must
commensurate with the significance of the proposal,
and with the extent and nature of the public reaction.
The issues are very complex; the public policy formulation
process therefore requires ample time, comprehensive
and reliable information, credible process, and
disposition to engage contrary opinions. The one-day
exercise proposed by the Prime Minister must not
be simply for the Government to insist that it is
right.
What
form will this symposium take? If it is to last
for one day then even if each presentation is limited
to 20 minutes there could not be more than nine
presentations - six in the morning and three in
the afternoon with appropriate periods for discussion
and a final plenary session.
Such
symposia, if they are to address the issues seriously,
would normally require at least a year's preparation,
particularly if knowledgeable persons are to be
invited from abroad. Such persons are usually busy
with engagements and have to be booked well in advance.
It is to be hoped that they will be scientists (including
doctors) and lawyers of international repute and
not just Alcoa propagandists. It is nevertheless
important that those of us who have a serious interest
in the issue express our intention to participate
and to make presentations.
I
participate in discussions of a Sustainable Development
Network which has been working on the smelter issue
in order to bring to the national discussion a comprehensive,
balanced and unemotional analysis of the associated
issues, and also to indicate the kind of analytical
approach to such proposals that we would wish the
Government to take. This group could make a valuable
input into the public consultation.
In view of the widespread national and, I suspect,
international interest in this issue, the proceedings
must be made available as early as possible. This
should be done in two ways. Firstly, the proceedings
should be televised using TV channel 4 (which is
owned by Government). Secondly, the organisers of
the symposium must require all presenters to make
their papers available in electronic form in advance,
and compact discs must be made available to all
participants on the day of the symposium. Thereafter
such CDs of all presentations (to include the discussions)
should be on sale to the public.
The
Ministry of Health must make a statement on the
health issue. The Ministry of Planning must make
a presentation to indicate how the smelter proposals
fit into social and economic plans for the south-west
and the whole country. The sustainability of these
developments must be indicated in relation to reserves
of natural gas. That Ministry must also indicate
what alternatives were considered for the south
west peninsula and why they were rejected.
I
have suggested the development of livestock (buffalypso
- water buffalo); production of high quality honey
for which this country has an international reputation
(both activities having been already practiced in
that part of the country); and other modern systems
of agricultural development. Tourism could be based
on a nature park and including other attributes
of that beautiful part of Trinidad.
The
Prime Minister has made a very significant statement
at the post-Cabinet briefing that has so far gone
without public comment. That was to the effect that
it is Government's intention to import aluminium
to commence down-stream manufacture even before
the smelters are constructed! I have repeatedly
asked the question in previous articles - why must
we smelt aluminium in this small island with limited
land space when we could import aluminium and go
downstream?
To
my great relief the Prime Minister has answered
the question - this is feasible since it is Government's
intention to do so. Japan has one of the largest
industries in the world in the manufacture of aluminium
products but has only an insignificant smelting
capacity (6,000 tonnes) but in 2004 imported approximately
two and a half million tonnes of aluminium. The
Prime Minister has settled the aluminium smelting
question. We must not smelt; instead, we must import
aluminium. Since the downstream processes require
significantly less energy our gas resources will
last longer.
What of securing long term supplies of aluminium?
We can promote the concept of Caricom integration
by this country's Government investing in the development
of aluminium smelting in Guyana - a vast country
where there is no problem of space. We can also
invest in the development of hydro-electric power
in that country to provide a source of energy which
will reduce their need for utilising foreign exchange
for importation of petroleum products.
Are
we likely to make such investments? Hardly, for
we can gain political mileage from fine speeches
on the importance of the Common Market and Economy
without doing anything other than allowing in a
few workers who in any case are needed in view of
our shortage of skilled labour!
John
Spence is
one Trinidad Express' columnist. Petroleumworld
not necessarily share these views.
Editor's
Note: This article was first publish in Trinidad
Express on Thursday,
November 9th 2006.
Petroleumworld reprint this article in the interest
of our readers.
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Petroleumworld
11/12/06
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