Nowhere for smelter waste?

A Joint Select Committee (JSC) of Parliament got little information as it interviewed Vijay Lall of Alutrint at the Red House.

In reply to questions, Lall said the spent pot linings of the smelting process will be shipped to the United States. Moreso, he “assured”, that was a problem we will not have to worry about until five years from now. In reply JSC chairman Independent Senator Mary King retorted that this problem should be addressed beforehand.

She remarked: “It’s passing strange that we will be sending these pot liners to the United States which has told Alcoa that they will build no more smelters in the US and will phase out those that are old and therefore Alcoa is looking for new fields which has brought them to Trinidad and Tobago.”

UNC Senator Jennifer Jones-Kernham querried Lal’s plan to ship waste to the USA, saying it might breach the Basil Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal.

She said Caricom countries will have to say whether hazardous waste can be shipped through their territories. “This has to be negotiated beforehand. These are very complex matters”. UNC Senator Carolyn Seepersad-Bachan said the Trinidad Cement Company (TCL) had recently said it would not accept the waste for disposal.

She sought clarification about a recent statement by the National Energy Company (NEC) that a local waste disposal unit was being considered.

“Is there a site you are looking at?” she asked.

Lal replied that the Basil Convention allows shipment of toxic waste, “The spent lining from Alutrint is to be sent to the United States for treatment in a licensed processing facility to render the material inert”.

Seepersad-Bachan pressed him on whether the waste will be disposed of locally in Trinidad, as suggested in the project’s terms of reference. Lal said: “Alutrint remains committed to off-island disposal”.

Seepersad-Bachan asked: “Isn’t it possible that you might not get off-site disposal of waste?” Lal replied that Alutrint would not get into a financial commitment without working this out.