Ecobreves – CHILE: Community Demands Halt to Construction of Thermoelectric Plant

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

SANTIAGO, Jun 22 2012 (IPS) - On behalf of a group of residents of the northern Chilean municipality of Huasco, the non-governmental organization Oceana has called on the Environmental Assessment Commission of the region of Atacama to deny authorization for the Punta Alcalde thermoelectric power plant to be built by Endesa-Enel. The request submitted to the commission stresses that the company has not complied with the requirements established by the Regional Health Ministry Department to ensure that the plant does not worsen the air quality in the surrounding area.

“It is unconceivable that authorization would be granted for a coal-fired thermal power plant like Punta Alcalde in Huasco, which has just been declared a latent zone because of the high degree of air pollution,” Ocean executive director Alex Muñoz told Tierramérica.

The new thermoelectric plant is to be installed on the coast of the municipality of Huasco, 700 km north of Santiago, where the Guacolda thermoelectric complex, comprising four carbon-fired plants, is already operating.