PM: No need to worry

No one will come into Trinidad and Tobago and “do what they like”. But by the same token the construction of the US$3 billion dollar aluminim smelter plant will go on. This was the position of Prime Minister Patrick Manning as he addressed the  controversial subject at a news conference at Whitehall yesterday . He said one of the problems in this country was that people made decisions too often on the basis of emotion. In the face of protests from the people of Chatham Village and surrounding areas that the plant poses a threat to their health, Manning said:  “We will all benefit from a careful study of the safeguards that are put in place in the construction of an aluminium smelter to protect life and vegetation,” he said. 

He added that the industry had advanced to the point where these safeguards were very stringent. “In fact they exceed the requirements of individual governments around the world,” he said. Stressing that Government and the EMA were there to examine these issues, the PM said there was no need for worry. Manning said Government was not unmindful of the environmental concerns.  “The name of the game for us is sustainable development,” he said. He stressed that there were trade-offs that one had to contemplate when one sought to develop new industries. And, he noted, this country was in no position to adopt the stance taken by the United States that has resulted in no ammonia or methanol plants being constructed there. Manning said the aluminium industry was going “off-shore”, not so much because of environmental considerations, but because of gas price.

As the energy prices rise in the US, the plants are becoming uneconomical, he said. “ What we are facing is a complete replacement of aluminium production in the US. The companies involved have gone offshore looking for locations where they can establish these industries on a modern basis and where they still have a possibility of return (on their investment),” he said. He added that this country was one  such destination. On the issue of the Beetham dump and the habit of residents of setting fires in the dump, Manning said Cabinet had established a team of ministers headed by the Minister of Planning and Development, Camille Robinson-Regis, to look at irritants in the society and make proposals for remedying them.  Among the irritants to be examined are the Beetham dump, vagrancy and illegal advertising on the highways. “And that is not old talk. That committee has been doing its work,” he said.