Chatham smelter plant disastrous for TT, says eco-group

THE proposed building of an aluminum smelter plant in Chatham by Alcoa could be disastrous for the residents of South west Trinidad, causing widespread environmental destruction, social dislocation and severe health problems for its residents. This was the warning issued by members of the Chatham/Cap de Ville Environmental Protection Group at a news conference held yesterday at the Bank and Insurance Workers Trade Union offices in Port-of-Spain. Members of the Chatham/Cap de Ville Environmental Protection Group in attendance were Anson Barclay, Raphael Sebastien, Roman Catholic priest Fr Wilfred John and Elijah Gour.

They said their organisation is planning to hold a demonstration in Port-of-Spain against the proposed smelter plant construction, and to inform the country of just what is happening in their area. Former Independent Senator and renowned environmentalist Prof Julian Kenny also spoke, as a concerned citizen, of what he felt was the impending social and ecological disaster the country faced if such a smelter plant was built. He also showed startling pictures of a large area of rainforest in Union Village, La Brea, which has been cleared to make way for the building of another aluminum smelter plant.

“But Chatham is headed to become something like Union,” said Prof Kenny. “If they do a smelter there and they start clearing, the estate is supposed to be 2,000 acres, which means you’re talking about a few square miles and when you do that, you remove the forest.” Consequently, he said the wildlife’s habitat and the residents’ hunting grounds are destroyed. “And then, you create the problem of the dislocation of people and their lifestyles. The problem in Union Village right now is that you have a community of about 300 resourceful people, from babies up to elderly people, who work and live together as a community.”

Prof Kenny revealed that they live in very nice houses with their doors open because they don’t have a crime problem. “And that is going to be destroyed now!” he stressed. He said the cleared land in Union Village, which once contained rainforests and agricultural produce, cannot be replanted. “So (they) cut down all of the forests and then they pile up the logs and burn them. Nothing has happened at Chatham yet, but it would be a bigger disaster than Union.” Prof Kenny claimed that the National Energy Corporation (NEC) started clearing away the rainforests in Union Village over the past few months. He firmly believes that the State authorised the building of the proposed smelter plant.