Communities suffer while corporations profit

THE EDITOR: We are getting ahead of ourselves in TT in our pursuit of progress. We are well on our way to being a country over indulging in excesses. With Point Lisas providing us with every gas-related by-product imaginable we are also saddled with ALNG, the type of enterprise most countries side step. No one wants such a plant in his back yard, because of the ever impending dangers associated with LNG plants. Disastrous explosions that always seem imminent, and health risks that are passed on to the employees of such plants and residents in locations in close proximity to these plants.

The National Energy Corporation (NEC) is now actively engaged in the erection of aluminum smelter, ammonia urea and ethylene plants in the La Brea area, ear-marked for a new industrial estate. We should not forget the recent LNG explosion in Nigeria. The proposed aluminum smelter plant would be within the range of eight miles of the new Vessigny Village High School, which according to Environmental Management Authority (EMA) guidelines could put the health of the students at the high school at great risk, when taking into account the exposure to the “down wind” that is ever present with plants of this nature. When the wheels of progress begin to turn it behooves us to get out of the way. The designated location for the smelter plant is a sparsely populated area, however the people residing in the area have all been living there for many years, and are now being forced to relocate.

Along with the dislocation of the residents, the wildlife in the area was disrupted, a citrus field and a water-dam were demolished. The latter being the source of drinking water when there is a water shortage, which is commonplace in the area. This dam is also used for washing laundry, for bathing purposes and a “water-hole” for the domesticated animals of the residents in the area. After people’s lives are affected in this way, what economic and social benefits are derived from such sacrifices? Very little if any, if we should use the ALNG as a barometer. The ALNG with all the promises has not brought with it any noticeable economic and social benefits to the people of Pt Fortin. The very few jobs that are now available for the construction of the ALNG are disproportionately distributed to the people living outside of the Pt Fortin area, and these jobs are for the most part temporary jobs. With the completion of the ALNG complex, the highly skilled labour that would be essential to operate the ALNG, is not available in Pt Fortin and that too, would have to come from outside.

So who is being exploited? The people living in these areas who are forced to make the ultimate sacrifice, all in the name of progress, not for themselves but for their children, some yet unborn. Progress has its price tag which we are being forced to pay through dislocation of sorts, impacting very heavily on our health and social lives. Who benefits from all of the inconveniences we are forced to endure? The people with “deep-pockets.” The businessmen both foreign and local, not the “small man.” The way foreign and local businessmen deal with us reminds me of a joke, which is “really not a joke.” The surgeon confronted his patient with the news that he must undergo surgery as soon as possible.  The bemused patient replied, “Doc, I am fit as a fiddle, I am only here for my annual check up.” To which the doctor replied “I know that, but I have bills to pay.”  This is analogous to what we are faced with in TT, with no reprieve in sight. It would be foolhardy of us to expect our Government to intercede on our behalf.

There is nothing wrong with progress, if we all stand to benefit from it, in some form or other. It is the negative effects that I find annoying. Take the people of Vessigny Village, La Brea in the area of Union Village Estate, the designated site for the impending smelter plant and the people of Point Fortin smothered by the ALNG. They are all powerless in the position they now find themselves which is “between a rock and a hard place.” What else must occur to wake us up from our deep slumber? We are being inundated with every type of gas venture imaginable, all in the name of progress. We are still without “pipe-borne” domestic gas in our homes, even with all our purported wealth (that is beyond a doubt, in the pockets of foreign/local businessmen.)

We are still without a national health plan for all our citizens. Our students of yester-year, who were forced to leave school with only a school-leaving certificate, are better equipped than those students leaving school today with ordinary and advanced GCE subjects. What is progress really? Just going forward. In broader terms, it means to develop to a higher, better or more advanced stage. If that is the case are we really making progress, or are we continuing to regress? As a case in point — the residents of Point Fortin and Vessigny Village, La Brea. Their fate is of such that no one in his right mind would envy. The way things are going in TT, China will probably become a democracy before we are able to get a handle on things here. Our governments are all big on talk about progress, but small on accountability and performance.

ULRIC GUY
Point Fortin