Manning
shelves smelter plan
By Roxanne Stapleton
Trinidad Express
Port
Spain
Petroleumworldtt.com
01 07 07
Patrick Manning ... "Govt will continue with
Alutrint plant at La Brea."
IN
A shocking move last night, Government backed down
from plans to establish an industrial estate in
Cap-de-Ville.
This
essentially means that there will be no smelter
built at Chatham, much to the delight of the area's
residents, who have united against the construction
of a proposed Alcoa aluminium smelter in a series
of explosively bitter, physical protests.
Instead,
the Patrick Manning-led administration is to accelerate
development of a new industrial estate offshore
Otaheite Bank, "from which aluminium production
can now be pursued, together with other industrial
plants".
The
highly charged statement came in the Prime Minister's
Christmas and year-end review, which was aired to
the nation last night from 7.30.
"We
will continue with the Alutrint plant at La Brea,
which could also form the basis for further aluminium
production facilities in this country," Manning
said.
Anti-smelter
activists and supporters yesterday claimed this
stand-down as a major victory for their camp, though
this round is simply limited to a change in location.
Last
night, strongly defending his Cabinet's stance that,
come what may, it is unlikely that they would relinquish
plans to establish aluminium smelting in this country,
Manning described the recent symposium on the issue
as being both "quite successful and helped
in determining the direction we must now follow".
"Our
symposium produced the very salient conclusion that
the two proposed aluminium smelters present no unmanageable
threat, either to the environment or to the health
of the population," he said.
In
fact, he said the symposium concluded, on health
and environmental grounds, that there was no bar
to the establishment of an aluminium industry in
Trinidad and Tobago and that risks "as may
exist are quite manageable".
Manning
reiterated that the Environmental Management Agency
(EMA) "has set the strictest standards for
the pursuit of aluminium smelting facilities",
adding that Cabinet will ensure the standards are
met.
Commenting
on the announcement, anti-smelter activist, Prof
Julian Kenny, told the Express that the Government
ought "to be commended for listening to the
views of the people of Chatham/Cap-de-Ville and
independent views from the wider public".
Kenny
said that while the idea of building an island offshore
Otaheite has been bandied about, it poses a threat
to "the important fish and shrimp harvesting
area at the Oropouche Bank".
"My
point has always been if you want to develop an
aluminium industry, my preference would be for importation
of primary aluminium ingots, as does Japan, South
Korea and other countries," Kenny said.
"My
reasoning is the cost of smelting aluminium using
natural gas is far costlier, by about a factor of
ten to one, as opposed to the downstream use of
aluminium."
Human
rights activist/attorney, Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj,
who on Friday filed a constitutional motion in the
San Fernando High Court to stop construction on
the proposed Alcoa plant, slammed Manning's statements
as inconsistent. (See Page 9.)
"Aluminium
smelting, the Prime Minister agrees, is dangerous
and needs to be managed. If it's dangerous to human
health in Chatham, why have it in La Brea. You'll
allow it to kill people in La Brea and Otaheite?
"The
EMA, in any event, does not have the expertise,
nor the human resource to police all poisonous emissions
from aluminium smelters. We are going to oppose
smelters in any location," he stressed.
Maharaj
insisted that the relevant laws are not in place
to assist Manning in his quest, adding that at the
end of the day, the laws will be against the Prime
Minister.
Opposition
Senator, Wade Mark, said no information had reached
his party as to the conclusions of the symposium,
adding that it is incredible that the Prime Minister
could have drawn such conclusive evidence.
"His
statement appears to be ill-informed. He must understand
that 89 per cent of the population in two surveys
conducted... said that they didn't want any aluminium
smelters.
"The
Prime Minister should pursue a new line of industrialisation,"
Mark said.
Trinidad
Express
Monday, December 25th 2006
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©2006 Trinidad Express. All Rights Reserved.
