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DEVELOPMENT-TRINIDAD: Locals Fear Toxins From New Alcoa Plant

Peter Richards

PORT OF SPAIN, Sep 5 2005 (IPS) - The Aluminium Company of America (Alcoa) has already cleared lands for the construction of a smelter plant near the southwest peninsula village of Cedros, but local residents say they are prepared to fight to the wire to block the project.

They cite the forced relocation of at least 93 families, the destruction of prime agricultural lands, wetlands and potential eco-tourism parks, and numerous potential health hazards.

Armed with placards, residents stood in the pouring rain recently chanting, “We say no to Alcoa. Alcoa must go. You are not welcome in Trinidad.”

“We are a people poised for battle. We are poised for war. We are not going to allow Alcoa to come into our communities and destroy our way of life,” said Anston Barclay, president of the environmentalist group Cedros Peninsula United.

He has warned residents to “get ready to fight the good fight with all your might, strength and heart”.

Barclay said the group did its own research and discovered that Alcoa “has left a trail of destruction everywhere they go. From the moment they held their first consultation we have been saying no and today we are still saying no to Alcoa.”

He said that while residents were being promised that the smelter plants would provide jobs, in reality, they would not benefit “since you would have to take the money to pay the doctors to see about your health”.

Alcoa, whose Trinidad operation will be its third major facility in the Caribbean basin, and the company’s second Greenfield smelter in 20 years – the other being in Iceland – insists that the plant will be environmentally friendly.

In a full-page newspaper ad titled “Open Letter to the Citizens of Trinidad and Tobago”, it said there had been inaccurate and misleading information circulated about the plant, including claims that its operation would “cause catastrophic damage to the local environment and community health”.

“This is wrong and Alcoa is deeply concerned that people are so seriously misled and alarmed,” the company said, dismissing claims that “modern aluminium smelters cause birth defects and disease within the community”.

“If they were true, this would quickly become known worldwide, and no community would tolerate an aluminium smelter as a neighbour. Many communities in the United States, Brazil, Europe and Australia consider Alcoa smelters to be long-standing and highly regarded partners in their development,” Alcoa said.

“We will apply operating practices that are protective of the environment, employees and community health, just as we would anywhere else in the world. There will be a full and thorough Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) completed. This assessment includes meaningful consultation with the community, which we have been committed to since we signed the Memorandum of Understanding in May 2004,” it added.

But independent legislator and retired university agricultural scientist Julian Kenny, who has joined the protest against the plant in Cedros, asked whether the authorities were prepared to “Bhopalise” Trinidad – a reference to the 1984 Bhopal gas leak disaster in India that killed thousands.

“There is not a single industrial process that has ever been shown to be error-free, nor a machine type in the world that has proven to be 100 percent reliable. There is always human error, mechanical failure and natural disaster,” he wrote in a newspaper column.

“What is particularly disturbing is that Alcoa’s application is either evasive or incomplete, with some boxes in the form answered ‘to be determined’,” Kenny noted.

“Of particular interest are the answers concerning chemicals used and wastes to be produced. The form asks about the use of hazardous materials. The answer – ‘gasoline and diesel’! The question of waste disposal – ‘to be determined’! The question of project area to be cleared – ‘to be determined’! And so it goes.”

Medical practitioner Steve Smith also accused Alcoa of embarking on “an overt attempt at misleading the public” on the health issues related to the smelter plant, referring to a study done in Saninia, Italy that looked at cancer rates among aluminium smelter workers in that area.

“The study found that even after controlling for cigarette smoking, the occupational polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) exposure experienced in the anodes factory was associated with a significantly increased risk of pancreatic cancer,” he said.

Last year, Alcoa signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) under which it would partner with the Trinidad and Tobago government to build a state-of-the-art, low-emissions aluminum smelter with a capacity of at least 250,000 metric tonnes per year (mtpy).

In a statement announcing the deal, Alcoa Chairman and CEO Alain Belda said the new plant underlines the company’s belief in the future of the Caribbean region as a major supplier of global alumina and aluminum markets.

The new smelter and related facilities, including a power plant, a new anode plant and downstream fabricated opportunities, is projected to cost in excess of a billion dollars.

It will utilise power produced by the island’s vast natural gas fields, which will then be converted into low-cost electricity for the smelter and the national grid, serving the growth in demand of residential, commercial and industrial consumers.

The MOU calls for Alcoa to take at least a 60 percent ownership stake in the smelter, with a state-owned enterprise holding the remainder. Alcoa would take a lead role in the management and operation of the smelter and will have a right to 60 percent of the metal produced.

Prime Minister Patrick Manning has already indicated that the opening of the controversial plant was likely later this year, although the country’s Environmental Management Authority has not yet given its formal approval. He said authorities have launched a public relations campaign to win local support for the project.

But the residents appear determined to stop the project. Cedros Peninsula United has launched a website aimed at gathering international support, which addresses health issues, figures on pollution and experiences from other countries like Jamaica that had similar development.

“Cedros Peninsula United felt it necessary to take this matter beyond our own borders to an international level,” the group said in a statement, adding “support from several global environmental organisations is also being enlisted to make the global community aware of the situation”.

It said Trinidad and Tobago already ranks number five in the world in carbon dioxide pollution, with “an unbelievable 16.5 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually per person”.

“The proposed smelter asks EMA to allow release of another six tonnes of carbon dioxide in the air,” it said, adding “this will make us number two in the world”.

“These figures come directly from the World Bank and Alcoa’s own EMA application,” the group said. “We are fighting for the rights of every Trinidadian to clean air, clean beaches and water that is safe to drink.”