EMA
clears Alutrint for La Brea smelter
By Carol Matroo
Trinidad Guardian
Port
Spain
Petroleumworldtt.com
04 08 07
Alutrint has been given the greenlight by the
Environmental Management Agency (EMA) to go ahead
with construction of the smelter plant at Union
Estate in La Brea.
The decision was made by the EMA after more than
a year of evaluation of the parameters of hazardous
waste, air and water pollution.
“The applicants (Alutrint) met all of the
standards. All waste is to be exported to the United
States, and the decision was made today by the
EMA to grant a Certificate of Environmental Clearance
(CEC) to Alutrint to the development of a 125,000
tonnes per year aluminium smelter in Union Estate,
La Brea,” EMA chief executive officer Dr
Dave Mc Intosh said during a news conference at
the EMA office on Elizabeth Street, in St Clair,
Port-of-Spain, last night.
However, this decision was not made lightly, as
Mc Intosh indicated that the EMA would monitor
the baseline conditions so the organisation could
examine any change in the impact on human health,
vegetation and wildlife.
For
this exercise, the CEO said the EMA was “ready,
willing and able” to monitor the baseline
conditions and to continually monitor the impact
that the plant might have on human life and the
environment.
This would be facilitated by 27 compliance officers,
working for the EMA, who would take a keen interest
in the operations of the plant.
Mc
Intosh said the clearance given to Alutrint had
nothing to do with Alcoa’s application
for similar clearance.
The
Government’s decision to add aluminium
to the country’s industrialisation has been
controversial, with a number of groups protesting
the establishment of the Alutrint and Alcoa smelters.
After months of protest, over the establishment
of a smelter in Chatham by Alcoa, Prime Minister
Patrick Manning announced last Boxing Day that
the smelter would no longer be built there, but
identified an offshore island to be built at Otaheite
as the possible site for Alcoa.
During the conference, Mc Intosh said the process
of evaluating Alutrint began back in April, 2005.
“We
spent well over a year treating with all the
technical information that has been presented
to us in the process of making a determination.”
The
CEO said the EMA encountered two major problems—air
emissions quality and surface water quality—which
the agency took into consideration before making
its decision.
“It
is not whether or not we are in favour of aluminium-smelting
or in favour of iron-smelting.
What we have to do is to examine the technical
information before us and compare and determine
whether or not that standard is met.
“In
the case of air pollution, the air quality standards
are embedded in the draft air pollution
rules, as well as the standards that were presented
to us by the World Health Organisation.
“These are standards that determine whether
or not there will be an impact on human health
and the environment,” Mc Intosh said.
He said there was a clear target that operations
such as this had to achieve.
Under watch:
EMA to monitor Alutrint operations.
27 compliance officers to be hired.
Agency defines critical issues
THE Environmental Management Agency says the most
critical part of the operations of the Alutrint
smelter at La Brea is the human health and ecological
risk assessment.
“We are not only looking at numbers and
comparing numbers, but we are asking that the applicants
will examine pathways whereby they can come into
contact with the various contaminants of concern,” the
chief executive officer of the EMA said.
The
EMA’s decision to grant Alutrint a Certificate
of Environmental Clearance by the National Energy
Sector included air quality, surface quality, groundwater,
noise, soil quality, spent pot line, buffer zones,
cumulative impact and human and ecological risk
assessment.
The EMA will monitor continually operations at
the plant.
Trinidad
Guardian
Tuesday 3rd April, 2007
Copyright
©2007 Trinidad Guardian. All Rights Reserved.
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