A
tale of two smelters
Keith Matthews
A home stands to the right of tractors
and trucks in the proposed site for the Alutrint
aluminium complex.
By Sherwin Long
Trinidad Guardian
Port
Spain
Petroleumworldtt.com
11 26 06
The
arguments for and against the establishment of aluminium
smelters in Chatham and La Brea have been flying
in fast and furious over the past year and a half.
Critics
of the smelters cite environmental concerns while
champions of the development look at the employment
and downstream potential.
In
much of the debate, the voices of those on the ground
level have now been drowned out by pressure groups
and politicians speaking on their behalf.
On
November 9, the Business Guardian visited the proposed
sites in Chatham and La Brea for the Alcoa and Alutrint
smelters.
Union
Industrial Estate:
Square
Deal appeal
On
the road to La Brea, near Rousillac, a bus shed
bore the spray-painted messages, “Yes Smelter”
and “Smelter = Better.”
These
musings serve as the welcome sign to Alutrint’s
planned aluiminium complex.
When
the Business Guardian visited the site, in December
2005, tractors and trucks streamed in and out of
the location.
Land
was already being cleared for the 1,340 acre estate.
From
then to now, the site has had a facelift.
Several
houses leading into the Square Deal squatter community
have been demolished, making way for a new road
network.
From
the roadway, the site descends into a dust-filled
crater.
Pockets
of water flow freely from the hill into incomplete
drains.
The
dimensions and borders of the area running from
Square Deal to Vessigny have changed for good.
Despite
the mutations, Gonsalvo Anson’s house was
spared.
In
fact, his home is the last house on the Sobo Main
Road before the new road network comes into view.
Last
December, Anson was firmly against the Union Estate
aluminium complex.
Over
the space of 11 months, the welder now seems to
have found middle ground on the complex and its
accompanying aluminium smelter.
Anson
said the La Brea community had accepted the plans
for the complex because they were accustomed to
industry.
He
sighed when questioned on how the complex would
change lives in the community.
“Is
like this. People might want to stop it, but the
Prime Minister (Patrick Manning) say it must go
on. Plenty unemployed people will get work. But
still there will be concerns about pollution,”
he stated matter-of-factly.
“All
I know is that there is dust in the morning and
since this project we have less and less water during
the day. So for now it is not helping me but in
the future it might help. Might.”
The
remaining residents of Square Deal echo Anson’s
complaints about the living conditions.
Molly
Smith and her daughters Jill and Jenettte also grumbled
about the dust caused by the construction and the
swarm of mosquitos affecting them due to poor drainage.
In
addition to concerns over dust or dengue, the family
also voiced their concern over the uncertainty in
their lives.
Several
Square Deal families have been relocated to Pierre
Road, La Brea.
But
those left behind, like the Smiths, claim to be
in the dark on when they would share the same fate.
“Over
a year they tell us we are in the buffer zone but
after that they didn’t communicate with us.
We are not the ones building the smelter if they
don’t communicate then we will be misinformed,”
Jenette said.
Alutrint’s
project development manager, Philip Julien, was
sympathetic to the concerns of Square Deal residents.
However,
he said any plans for relocating residents was outside
of Alutrint’s jurisdiction.
“It
is disappointing to hear that they are not in the
know. It is unfortunate,” he said. “But
we (Alutrint) are tenants. Our landlord is the NEC
and they are responsible for making sure the site
is free of all encumbrances.”
Julien
estimated that 50 houses remained in Square Deal.
He
said that houses located outside of the complex’s
buffer zone will remain.
But
Julien could give no timeline as to when the relocation
exercise would be completed.
Chatham:
The
struggle continues
In
sharp contrast to the pro-smelter slogans on the
doorway to La Brea, in Chatham, visitors are greeted
with a different message.
Red
flags with painted “No Smelter” warnings
line several light poles in Chatham.
On
either side of Food Crop Road there are protest
camps set up for antismelter activists.
Other
colourful banners appear such as “Mr Manning
deliver your people from bondage like Moses”
or “Alcoa: I think not.”
In
the background, the jumping, orange flames from
Atlantic LNG’s facility paint the sky.
When
the Business Guardian visited the proposed site
for Alcoa’s smelter, the community was abuzz.
Soil
testing experiments by Trintoplan were underway
at several points along Food Crop Road as the company
will have to drill 100 30-foot deep boreholes.
A
group of Chatham residents readied themselves for
a TV6 townhall meeting at the Chatham Youth Camp.
Fitzroy
Beache was in the crowd.
As
the president of the Chatham/Cap-de-Ville Environmental
Protection Agency, he is one of the main voices
of dissent in the community.
Beache,
who sees himself as the de-facto leader of the resistance,
agreed that the issue was politicised.
He
has been seen fraternising with the Opposition UNC
and particularly with UNC activist and smelter opponent
Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj.
“This
is a political issue because it is the PNM Government
that wants to build the smelter,” he reiterated.
“I was a die-hard PNM but when I stop and
see the injustice I step back.
I
am not a UNC activist either I am an activist for
these people here.”
At
the heart of his “activism,” Beache
wants the Government to reconsider its smelter intentions
for Chatham.
Instead,
he demands Chatham be the hub of the country’s
agroprocessing initiative.
Beache
envisions Chatham as T&T’s “bread
basket” and called for residents to be educated
in proper farming techniques plus government support.
The
vegetation on Food Crop Road is lush.
But
unlike the road’s name there are not many
food crops visible. A family of 30-ft tall pine
trees adorn the forested area.
There
were seven visible houses along Food Crop Road.
Beache
claims that farmers were forced to give up their
plots in the area due to a lack of pipeborne water.
He
also said water trucks stopped visiting the area
years ago thus crippling any hopes for consistent
food production.
Going
back to his call for agriculture in Chatham, Beache
suggests that the same port Alcoa wants to establish
for the smelter could be used to ship produce abroad.
Ashton
Charles had a more philosophical approach to the
argument.
Charles,
a former safety technician at Atlantic LNG, said
economics was most important when considering the
smelter. But due to the Government’s attitude,
the people of Chatham had been forced to oppose
the development.
However,
he questioned whether the smelter in Chatham would
change the people’s fortunes.
“We
in T&T are not scrunting. So honestly, I am
not seeing a multinational company getting water
at subsidised rates, cheap gas and electricity changing
our lives or our children’s lives dramatically.
Most of the revenue will go abroad,” he reasoned.
Charles
also observed that only after public outcry did
the Government mention plans for downstream industries
at the site.
In
an e-mail, Alcoa’s director of public strategy,
Wade Hughes, said the provision of downstream manufacturing
has been a requirement since the MOU was signed.
He
added that Alcoa was firmly committed to downstream
manufacturing.
Plus,
the company's global manufacturing operations and
its worldwide network of customers and suppliers
would “help create a solid foundation for
aluminium based manufacturing in Trinidad.”
Hughes
also gave his take on what he felt was the biggest
misconception about the smelter.
“I
think it is being portrayed as an industrial monster.
The fact is that, given competitive energy costs,
this is a plant that would be welcomed in any highly
regulated country such as US, Canada, Australia,
or Europe. Alcoa is reopening smelting facilities
such as this in the US,” he said.
In
spite of Hughes’ view, Charles still felt
the Government was not being frank with the people
of Chatham.
He
charged the Government with what he described as
“communication blunders in expressing plans
to the populace.”
Charles
said their actions were not only high-handed but
spoke volumes of the standard of governance in our
twin-island republic.
“Anytime
a people starts to fear its government that is anarchy,”
Charles mused. “But when the Government fears
its people that is democracy. Right now they obviously
don’t fear the people.”
Role
of EMA
Recently,
Prime Minister Patrick Manning said that there could
not be total preservation of the environment at
the expense of development.
When
asked for a response, EMA head Dr David McIntosh
said the EMA “oversees execution of the Government’s
national environmental strategy and programmes to
protect, enhance and oversee the environment.”
McIntosh
tried to allay fears over the EMA’s role in
maintaining balance between environmental protection
and industrialisation.
He
added that he did not see the balance tilting towards
industrialisation as the EMA remained vigilant.
“In
formulating this national environment policy, the
Government focused on sustainable management of
the country’s environmental assets rather
than the narrower concept of environmental protection,
which tends to bring into conflict environment and
development,” he said in the release. “The
EMA’s responsibility is to ensure that it
does not.”
Trintoplan
soil testing experiments were underway at several
points along Food Crop Road as the company will
have to drill 100 30-foot deep boreholes. Photo:
Keith Matthews
Classifying
Chatham
There
has been constant enquiry into the quality of soil
at Chatham and whether the land is best suited for
agriculture or other purposes.
A
T&T soil survey was carried out during the 1970s
by the Ministry of Agriculture, UWI and Texaco.
Head
of the Agriculture Ministry’s soil and land
capability section, Seunarine Persad, said lands
in T&T’s southwest peninsula were on average
of Class V capability.
Class
V lands are defined as “not suitable for cultivation
but suitable for growing pasture grasses, fruit,
timber trees or forest.” Land capability classifications
range from Class I to Class VII.
Class
I land is suitable for cultivation without special
practices.
Class
VII land is not suitable for cultivation and suitable
only for wildlife, recreation and water conservation.
The
Business Guardian obtained a copy of the soil survey
specifically for the area where Alcoa’s proposed
smelter will be located.
According
to the survey there are seven different soil series
in the area ranging from Class III to Class V.
The
fertility status of the area ranges from low fertility
to moderately fertile.
Persad
said this was well within the norm for T&T.
“While
it is not the best land, it is par for the course
in T&T where 60 per cent of the land falls within
IV or V classification,” Persad noted. “If
people are willing to use soil amendments like limestone
the land will be useful.”
He
said in T&T there was little Class I land remaining
and only in Tucker Valley Class I remained.
In
Caroni, the land was Class III while in Orange Grove
and parts of Sangre Grande there was Class II land,
Persad added.
Former
UWI professor of agriculture, John Spence, maintains
that the land space required for Alcoa’s smelter
in Chatham could be put to better use.
In
fact, in an interview, he said under the National
Development Plan the land in Chatham has been earmarked
for agriculture.
Spence
also noted that the quality of soil is not the selling
point for agricultural development in Chatham.
“It
is erroneous to suggest that the quality of soil
is an issue whether it is in Chatham or Caroni.
With modern technology you could now plant on land
that was not considered prime agricultural land,”
he observed.
Spence
said he was not against the idea of industrialisation
but offered another approach.
Citing
T&T’s small size, he felt there could
be better planning for our current industrialisation
thrust.
Spence
used Japan and its downstream aluminium drive as
an example.
“In
Japan they smelt 6,000 tonnes of aluminium per year,
but they import upwards of 2.5 million tonnes. We
could do the same thing and it would take up less
space for one. We would use less natural gas too,”
he said.
Spence
added that the Ministry of Planning Development
should also publicise the alternatives to agriculture
or industry for Chatham and the country as a whole.
He
said it was important to strike a balance between
industrialisation, the country’s size and
its demographics.
Politics
as usual
The
issue of the aluminium smelters at La Brea and Chatham
has taken centre stage in the political arena.
Opposition
Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar recently issued a
challenge for a national referendum on the establishment
of smelters at La Brea and Chatham.
Her
challenge was dismissed by the Government.
In
a recent speech, Prime Minister Patrick Manning
has even hinted at a third aluminium smelter.
Perennial
protestor and former Attorney General, Ramesh Lawrence
Maharaj, has threatened legal action to stop the
smelter in Chatham.
However,
from speaking with residents in Chatham, the general
view was that the smelter issue was publicised due
to their protest action and not because of political
pressure.
One
Chatham resident, who asked not to be named, said
once politicians saw the people rallying against
Alcoa they jumped on the bandwagon.
The
resident said both the Government and Opposition
politicians saw the people as pawns.
For
25-year-old painter Dale Singh an outsiders’
perception of Chatham residents as gullible and
backward was far from truth.
“People
think that we down here illiterate and walk barefoot.
No! Life is just more quiet. We have farmers, fishermen,
tradesmen, professors and even hunters. Just because
we are against this smelter it doesn’t mean
we don’t want industry to come here,”
he fumed.
“If
the people of Chatham decide that they don’t
want the smelter to determine their children’s
future, what is so wrong with that. You don’t
need a politician to say that for you.”
On
December 9, the Government will hold a smelter symposium.
The
Trinidad Guardian
Thursday 23rd November, 2006
Copyright
©2006 The Trinidad Guardian . All Rights Reserved.
