Catch 22 situation at Point Fortin

THE EDITOR: Dengue fever is getting a “bum-rap” in Point Fortin. Anyone afflicted with a respiratory ailment, allegedly an ALNG related illness, is diagnosed as having dengue fever. Those people living with in a one mile radius of the ALNG plant are being infected with in a new strain of respiratory ailment, so sporadic that it can be deemed as epidemic. Those in close proximity to the ALNG plant are being afflicted with respiratory problems, rashes and muscular discomforts. Doctors at the Area hospital in Point Fortin, and those in private practice are overwhelmed by patients with all types of strange illnesses which are new to them, which for want of an appropriate, accurate diagnosis is being diagnosed as dengue fever, which is characteristic of what can be called — a “quick fix,” to appease the frustrations of the afflicted patients. Despite the outcry of the FFOs, against the continued expansion of the ALNG in the Point Fortin community, the plight of the residents remains unchanged and unaddressed much to our peril.

Other than the FFOs, of whom we all should be indeed proud, and to which we should all extend our heart felt gratitude, no other group or agency views the predicament of the residents of Point Fortin as a matter to be addressed.
We are presently grappling with an outbreak of which the ALNG is allegedly the villain. At this point in time the ALNG is allowed to pollute the air in and around Point Fortin, with emissions from the ALNG “flares,” which are in operation without effective high power blowers that are commonly used for clearing hazardous toxins from the air. There is a “catch-22” situation in the making here. The government is in the process of providing alternative homes for the people in close proximity of the ALNG. Relocating those affected by the ALNG, is like covering up a malignancy with a band-aid; government’s endeavour to address the problem but not the cause. The overriding problem is the prevalence of polluted air which is allowed to contaminate the area and the on-going expansion of the ALNG, in the populous, developed community of Point Fortin. From the way things are progressing, the residents of Point Fortin would soon be displaced by the ALNG which in spite of its negative social impact on the community “health wise,” is being sold to the public as a necessary evil, highlighted by the $7.5 million paid to the Borough for the rental of lands usurped by the ALNG, while the precipitous degeneration of the quality of life of the residents of the Borough is completely ignored.

ULRIC GUY
Point Fortin