Red flag over smelter plant
THE EDITOR: Are people aware of some of the controversy surrounding the smelter plants to be built in TT, the smaller one in La Brea Union Estate and also the massive one in Chatham, Cap-de-Ville in Cedros by Alcoa and the NEC? Unfortunately, in talking to some people in the last six months, I have realised that most people, regardless of the attention of the press surrounding the building of these plants, are unaware or vaguely at most of the proposed ALCOA smelter plant that will destroy our South/West peninsula, and that indeed, those who might have heard of this project have probably done so due to the numerous full-page colour advertisements in the papers that ALCOA has put out, having the funds to do so and obviously painting a pretty picture about it, while the poor Cedros community who is so opposed to this plant, cannot afford to do so. This rural community is crying out for our help, literally, it is about to be destroyed, 2000 acres or more are about to go, the entire peninsula will effectively be split in half, families that have lived peacefully their whole lives will have to be relocated to God knows where, and sadly most Trinidadians do not know this. Nor do they understand the consequences of a huge smelter plant being built in our tiny densely populated country and how serious they are for everyone. This does not affect just people in Cedros, but the country at large, since it has the potential to affect our water and electricity supplies, our fishing industry and coastal areas, and not to mention produces pollutants in the form of more greenhouses gases and cancer causing toxins like fluoride, that are the byproduct of this voracious energy hungry and toxic industry. ALCOA has not built a smelter plant in any country for over 20 years, (it is currently building one in Iceland) and the countries that do have smelter plants tend to be a lot bigger and far lees densely populated than ours. Let’s not fool ourselves, ALCOA is clearly not here for any humanitarian reasons. DIANA JOSEPH Diego Martin
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"Red flag over smelter plant"