During CHOGM the People's Space at the Savannah was largely empty. On the three occasions that I visited there seemed to be more entertainers that visitors.
The La Brea Concerned Citizens United were encouraged by Steve Theodore to participate in the People's Space. Initially they were to present a 'skit' on 23rd November. This was shifted back to the 29th (note that the NGO, Business and Youth Fora took place from 23rd to 26th November).
When LBCCU showed up on the 29th the police denied them entrance to the People's Space. According to Elijah Gour, President of Union Village Council "the police told us we were protesters and we were not allowed to enter the People's Space with any anti-government sentiment".
According to the Newsday (November 30th) 'At the time of the minor dispute at the entrance, spouses of the several foreign dignitaries here for CHOGM were enjoying a cultural presentation inside. The contingent, led by Minister of Local Government Hazel Manning, arrived at the show over three hours after the scheduled time. Hazel Browne, Head of the Network of Non-Governmental Organizations and a member of the Organizing Committee that it was a "case of a mix-up". She assured that "the organizers did not take the position that the team from La Brea were protesters". She explained that the police "made that judgement call on their own" According to Browne "I think they were turned away for security reasons". Brown "accepted responsibility for the mis-communication".
What the people of Trinidad and Tobago need to understand from this lesson is that dissent is not tolerated by Manning's Regime. Orders were given to prevent anti-smelter expressions even at the "People's Space". This should come as no surprise. The Minister of Energy, Conrad Enil, said that he is under "no obligation" to justify the economics of the smelter to NGOs". he said "so what" when the press said that a group of NGOs led by Kublalsingh had been seeking cost-benefit information on Alutrint for over 4 years.
When foreigners are here T&T must present a facade of a thriving democracy galloping towards developed nation status using oil and gas assets. This is a shame! There is no democracy here. There is no justice. There will not be peace!
Showing posts with label Patrick Manning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Patrick Manning. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
22nd November, 2009, People's Democracy Rally Woodford Square, POS
Various groups highlighted some of the major problems that affect us today: - Crime and violence
- The Property Tax - No Taxation without Representation
- Continuing high food prices and the neglect by the Government of food production by our farmers and fisherfolk
- The lack of regard for transparency and accountability as evidenced by the scandals surrounding the Integrity Commission and the Uff Enquiry into UDeCOTT.
- The mis-use of our patrimony to pursue mega projects rather than address the basic needs of citizens (health care, education etc) and communities (flooding, water etc)
- Disregard for the dignity of labour and the attacks on the institutions of labour and of the co-operative sector
- The lack of concern for the well being and welfare of the elderly (decent pensions etc)
- An attempt to further entrench a concentration of power in the hands of the Executive as evidenced by the proposals for reform of the Constitution and Local Government.
The Issues and Demands presented by the People's Democracy include the following: (i) "The government, as a first step, immediately stop the buildingof an aluminium smelter in La Brea and stop the building of a steel mill and port in Claxton Bay, (ii) Immediately take steps to develop a cluster of industries centered around renewable energy technologies; and to mobilize the national community to find ways to develop industries which generate safe and clean jobs; projects which create wealth, not death and destruction. And that these plans should be developed through a participatory process".
Friday, September 4, 2009
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
FFOS calls on Prime Minister for Smelter Referendum
Dear Editor,
Alutrint is a $9,000 Million(9B) loan before cost overruns, that remains unexamined in terms of its economic feasibility, or in terms of a "cost - benefit" analysis despite calls for transparency by several sectors of our country. Have we not learnt from 1978 when Eric Williams ominously announced 3 Plipdeco pioneer industries, including the Iron ans Steel Company of Trinidad & Tobago, which cost us three devaluations, and 20B in losses by the end of the 1980's, and which were sold for one twentieth of what they cost this treasury? The architects are the same this time. But does it matter whether Alutrint will make money to buy private jets, high rises and 3M of the worlds most expensive curtains for the PM if there is a cancer risk to the innocent?
Contrary to the reported statements made by the Right Honourable PM that the "modern industrial state... presents no un-manageable threat either to the environment or the health of the population", there is a sense that Mr. Manning is deliberately misleading the population since according to the unedited Medical Monitoring Report produced by the Caribbean Health Research Council for Alutrint, " there is no certainty that the Pre Baked (Chinese) technology, will not cause cancer".
The Medical Monitoring Report for Alutrint is specific that thousands of workers and residents will need to be checked for degenerative diseases such as cancer, including blood tests and chest x-rays: bi-annually for non administrative workers, and annually and every other year for the 4100 stranded residents. Several powerful issues arise, such as whether these residents are entitled to a right to life as enshrined in our Constitution.
Will the Ministry of Health pay "collateral damage" compensation to parents with dying children, and shut down the scheme if there is a cancer outbreak? Or will the Government escape liability and hide the statistics?
Matters are worsened since the EMA have a reputation of orphaning affected communities, and La Brea knows how the Point Fortin communities downwind of Atlantic LNG have never had any independent EMA investigation/compensation into the Ministry of Health’s Statistics of a 534% spiked increase in Asthma after the establishment of Train II, which was the main subject of the FFOS Vs EMA/ALNG Train IV Judicial Review of the EMA's approval of Train IV.
Does Mr. Manning have the moral authority to endanger vulnerable communities and threaten their lives?
If Mr. Manning’s Alutrint has the nation’s support as he openly boasts, then surely he will rise to our call for a Referendum on "the experimental uncertain risks of Chinese technology smelting La Brea and of turning La Breains into experimental Lab Rats".
Instead of bullying frightened and neglected citizens as he hides cowardly behind tinted glass and machine gun riot police, Patrick Manning must face the truth and call a referendum.
Gary Aboud
Secretary
Fishermen and Friends of the Sea
Alutrint is a $9,000 Million(9B) loan before cost overruns, that remains unexamined in terms of its economic feasibility, or in terms of a "cost - benefit" analysis despite calls for transparency by several sectors of our country. Have we not learnt from 1978 when Eric Williams ominously announced 3 Plipdeco pioneer industries, including the Iron ans Steel Company of Trinidad & Tobago, which cost us three devaluations, and 20B in losses by the end of the 1980's, and which were sold for one twentieth of what they cost this treasury? The architects are the same this time. But does it matter whether Alutrint will make money to buy private jets, high rises and 3M of the worlds most expensive curtains for the PM if there is a cancer risk to the innocent?
Contrary to the reported statements made by the Right Honourable PM that the "modern industrial state... presents no un-manageable threat either to the environment or the health of the population", there is a sense that Mr. Manning is deliberately misleading the population since according to the unedited Medical Monitoring Report produced by the Caribbean Health Research Council for Alutrint, " there is no certainty that the Pre Baked (Chinese) technology, will not cause cancer".
The Medical Monitoring Report for Alutrint is specific that thousands of workers and residents will need to be checked for degenerative diseases such as cancer, including blood tests and chest x-rays: bi-annually for non administrative workers, and annually and every other year for the 4100 stranded residents. Several powerful issues arise, such as whether these residents are entitled to a right to life as enshrined in our Constitution.
Will the Ministry of Health pay "collateral damage" compensation to parents with dying children, and shut down the scheme if there is a cancer outbreak? Or will the Government escape liability and hide the statistics?
Matters are worsened since the EMA have a reputation of orphaning affected communities, and La Brea knows how the Point Fortin communities downwind of Atlantic LNG have never had any independent EMA investigation/compensation into the Ministry of Health’s Statistics of a 534% spiked increase in Asthma after the establishment of Train II, which was the main subject of the FFOS Vs EMA/ALNG Train IV Judicial Review of the EMA's approval of Train IV.
Does Mr. Manning have the moral authority to endanger vulnerable communities and threaten their lives?
If Mr. Manning’s Alutrint has the nation’s support as he openly boasts, then surely he will rise to our call for a Referendum on "the experimental uncertain risks of Chinese technology smelting La Brea and of turning La Breains into experimental Lab Rats".
Instead of bullying frightened and neglected citizens as he hides cowardly behind tinted glass and machine gun riot police, Patrick Manning must face the truth and call a referendum.
Gary Aboud
Secretary
Fishermen and Friends of the Sea
Thursday, June 25, 2009
What the Corporatist PM said after hearing the Alutrint Judgement
The local Guardian Newspaper of 18th June, 2009, reported that in response to questions from reporters on the Judgement by Justice Mira Dean-Amorer to quash the Certificate of Environmental Clearance issued to Alutrint by the Environmental Management Authority, the Prime Minister "insisted that construction on the smelter plant will continue". He gave that "assurance". Asked if the project will stop in the wake of the 'Order', Manning told reporters "The answer to that question is no, it will not stop". He however, admitted "we are looking at analysing exactly what took place in the courts so that we can have a full appreciation of it". Asked again if work on the project was likely to stop as a result of the ruling Manning responded "No, no, no, no, no, no" (six "nos"). The report goes on to say that Manning, the Minister of Energy and Minister emily Dick-Ford maintained that "the project was being established in the best interest of the people of the country and will come to fruition in due course".
Alutrint Pre-Judgement Advertising in local Newspapers
On 3rd June, 2009, in the local Guardian Newspaper, just two weeks before the Judgement by Justice Mira Dean-Amorer on whether the Environmental Management Authority followed due process in granting a Certificate of Environmental Clearance to Alutrint to operate a Smelter Complex in La Brea, Trinidad, Alutrint took out a full page colour advertisement in the local Guardian Newspapers claiming: "The Aluminium vision began decades ago"..."The Birth of an Exciting New Industry"...run by "innovative ioneers"..."manufacturing quality products"..."with a strong thrust and interest from the People's Republic of China"..."promoting the safety, health and wellbeing of our employees"..."while championing community development".
On 16th June, 2009, Judgement Day, Alutrint ran a four page colour advertisement in the local Newsday Newspaper proclaiming:
that La Brea is "on the Move" and a "Corporate Social Response" of "Helping La Brea to Help Themselves, Building a Long-term Sustainable Relationship with the La Brea Community”. Alutrint claims a Primary objective "to assist residents to achieve their own aspirations and ambitions” and asserts that "there is considerable enthusiasm in the community for the smelter project”...Alutrint reassures that they "will continue to make significant contributions to sport and culture” and that "as a result of previous contributions "young athletes like Rondel Sorrito have emerged”.
Alutrint claims to be "one of the first corporate entities to establish a presence in the project affected communities, at least 18 months before the project was fully approved for construction”.
Alutrint says it focuss is "on Public Health" and they are headed "Towards a Healthy Community". With regards to the Medical Monitoring Plan (MMP) Alutrint claims it "is a further commitment to the overall health and wellness of the community”. The MMP will provide a "continuous and confidential free screening”. The MMP "results of testing will stand as both guardian and testament to environmental compliance of modern smelter technology”.
Alutrint claims to be "Poised to Bring Long Term Benefits" through “timely investment” by a "most advanced technology supplier with proven track record to build smallest smelter in this part of the world”... in a position to "make most valuable use of country’s energy resources”... and "create jobs”. Alutrint goes on to claim that it "will be first of many industrial tenants on Union Industrial Estate, with a "Vision for technical and operational support to originate from within our community”. Alutrint promotes itself as "a catalyst to stimulate return of heavy industry to the heartland”.
As far as Opportunities at Work in La Brea, Alutrint claims to be providing “sustainable opportunities” (Josieann Richards - Alutrint's Community Liaison Officer). Josieann confesses that "feedback from La Brea residents is they do not want handouts but a chance to earn their own income and contribute to the future for their children and grand children” and not just from the opportunities provided by Alutrint, "but also many other industrial entities”.
With regards to Technology in Service of the Environment, Alutrint quotes Norwegian Mr. Eric Kuehl, a foremost advisor on the Aluminium smelter process as saying "In Norway we have one fo the highest life expectancies in the world and this applies to the people who work in and live around our Aluminium smelters”. Kuehl beams that in Norway "communities live in harmonious co-existence with smelters”. In fact, he says "people live across the street from smelters...Norway has seven smelters...smelters located in heart of small communities. Kuehl is convinced that "major advances have been made in the efficiency and environmental cleanliness of operations using Chinese designs and standards and "prebake technology is world’s most advanced and proven methods to minimize the potential for unpleasant emissions”.
The advertisement also claims that “Alutrint will use less than 3% of the country’s natural gas production over the next 20 years”.
On 16th June, 2009, Judgement Day, Alutrint ran a four page colour advertisement in the local Newsday Newspaper proclaiming:
that La Brea is "on the Move" and a "Corporate Social Response" of "Helping La Brea to Help Themselves, Building a Long-term Sustainable Relationship with the La Brea Community”. Alutrint claims a Primary objective "to assist residents to achieve their own aspirations and ambitions” and asserts that "there is considerable enthusiasm in the community for the smelter project”...Alutrint reassures that they "will continue to make significant contributions to sport and culture” and that "as a result of previous contributions "young athletes like Rondel Sorrito have emerged”.
Alutrint claims to be "one of the first corporate entities to establish a presence in the project affected communities, at least 18 months before the project was fully approved for construction”.
Alutrint says it focuss is "on Public Health" and they are headed "Towards a Healthy Community". With regards to the Medical Monitoring Plan (MMP) Alutrint claims it "is a further commitment to the overall health and wellness of the community”. The MMP will provide a "continuous and confidential free screening”. The MMP "results of testing will stand as both guardian and testament to environmental compliance of modern smelter technology”.
Alutrint claims to be "Poised to Bring Long Term Benefits" through “timely investment” by a "most advanced technology supplier with proven track record to build smallest smelter in this part of the world”... in a position to "make most valuable use of country’s energy resources”... and "create jobs”. Alutrint goes on to claim that it "will be first of many industrial tenants on Union Industrial Estate, with a "Vision for technical and operational support to originate from within our community”. Alutrint promotes itself as "a catalyst to stimulate return of heavy industry to the heartland”.
As far as Opportunities at Work in La Brea, Alutrint claims to be providing “sustainable opportunities” (Josieann Richards - Alutrint's Community Liaison Officer). Josieann confesses that "feedback from La Brea residents is they do not want handouts but a chance to earn their own income and contribute to the future for their children and grand children” and not just from the opportunities provided by Alutrint, "but also many other industrial entities”.
With regards to Technology in Service of the Environment, Alutrint quotes Norwegian Mr. Eric Kuehl, a foremost advisor on the Aluminium smelter process as saying "In Norway we have one fo the highest life expectancies in the world and this applies to the people who work in and live around our Aluminium smelters”. Kuehl beams that in Norway "communities live in harmonious co-existence with smelters”. In fact, he says "people live across the street from smelters...Norway has seven smelters...smelters located in heart of small communities. Kuehl is convinced that "major advances have been made in the efficiency and environmental cleanliness of operations using Chinese designs and standards and "prebake technology is world’s most advanced and proven methods to minimize the potential for unpleasant emissions”.
The advertisement also claims that “Alutrint will use less than 3% of the country’s natural gas production over the next 20 years”.
Monday, June 22, 2009
LA BREA CONCERNED CITIZENS UNITED – PRESS STATEMENT 16th June, 2009
On the significance of the judgment of the Judicial Review Case, June 16, 2009
1. The judgment today is about whether EMA followed the rules for the granting of a CEC to NEC/Alutrint. It is not about whether Alutrint is good or bad for the communities. Alutrint has misled and withheld information from us for years. It has proven that it cannot be trusted. The company consistently fails to address complaints about dust, noise and has proven that it does not care about the suffering it is already causing the community. From Alutrint’s behavior and its own Medical Monitoring plan, we know that it is bad for us. What we want to make clear today is that those of us in the villages downwind of the smelter, in Union, Vance River, Sobo, and Vessigny and Square Deal and other villages are continuing our fight for justice.
We cannot accept a smelter that puts us at such risk that we would have to be tested every two years for a range of diseases including cancer. We are not lab rats. The smelter must go. No amount of public relations by Alutrint will convince us that this medical testing is a “service” to the community. Bringing a risk that makes us have to take our babies to the doctor to find out if they are getting sick is not a service. It is inhuman, cruel, and against our rights as citizens. All of this has been planned without any consultation with us whatsoever. The lack of regard for us and injustice in this whole affair is glaring. We will continue to fight for justice. We will continue as well to fight for fair relocation practice for those being made worse off by involuntarily relocation from the buffer zone of the Union Industrial Estate and well as those who are suffering the dust and noise. We are united across villages, ethnicity and political parties and will not back down.
2. La Brea wants jobs, but we are not dying for jobs. We want alternative development that actually builds human lives and communities. From the inception, this smelter has been shoved down our throats without any consideration of alternative uses of that site. No community in Trinidad wants smelters. The conditions in La Brea allowed people to prey on us and make us believe that this is the only way to get jobs. This not the only way. Alternative uses for that site have never been considered, not even in the EIA. We have never discussed recycling aluminium instead, building other light manufacturing, or commercial farming – the kinds of industries that would be suited to the skills actually available in the community. Alutrint, the NEC, and the EMA behave as though we are animals on their farm. We are saying to you here today and we hope you are listening; we are not animals on a farm. We are citizens in a country. We are not accepting the lies, trickery, and public relations gimmicks any more. The members of the Board of these indecent organizations please take note you are all out of order. We do not want your death smelter.
3. The concerned citizens of La Brea continue to call on the rest of Trinidad and Tobago to stand with us for justice. There are some who want to paint this as a la Brea matter and draw a line between insiders and outsiders. There are no outsiders and insiders, this could be happening to your family next. We the citizens of Trinidad are all the inside this problem. The outsiders are the Chinese. Everyone knows that there are challenges in La Brea when it comes to standing up for our rights. People are afraid of losing their jobs or not getting their ten days work or they have other strong loyalities. Alutrint cannot claim the silence of some as agreement. This silence is a sign of oppression. We ask that the rest of Trinidad stand up and support and pray for the people of La Brea to find the courage to free their minds and mouths from the chains that are fastened across them now.
The test of freedom is the ability to choose one’s life and the lives of our children above all other loyalties. We the concerned citizens have stood united across ethnicity, villages, and party lines. We are calling on all of La Brea to get up. Stand Up. Stand up for your rights. That smelter does not exist. There is nothing on that site. God is not planning to build that smelter. Man is planning to build the smelter. Stand up defend your families.
Stand up together and you will see, no smelter will be built on that ground. Contacts:
A. Carter: 305 7254 and E. Gour – 648-7127
1. The judgment today is about whether EMA followed the rules for the granting of a CEC to NEC/Alutrint. It is not about whether Alutrint is good or bad for the communities. Alutrint has misled and withheld information from us for years. It has proven that it cannot be trusted. The company consistently fails to address complaints about dust, noise and has proven that it does not care about the suffering it is already causing the community. From Alutrint’s behavior and its own Medical Monitoring plan, we know that it is bad for us. What we want to make clear today is that those of us in the villages downwind of the smelter, in Union, Vance River, Sobo, and Vessigny and Square Deal and other villages are continuing our fight for justice.
We cannot accept a smelter that puts us at such risk that we would have to be tested every two years for a range of diseases including cancer. We are not lab rats. The smelter must go. No amount of public relations by Alutrint will convince us that this medical testing is a “service” to the community. Bringing a risk that makes us have to take our babies to the doctor to find out if they are getting sick is not a service. It is inhuman, cruel, and against our rights as citizens. All of this has been planned without any consultation with us whatsoever. The lack of regard for us and injustice in this whole affair is glaring. We will continue to fight for justice. We will continue as well to fight for fair relocation practice for those being made worse off by involuntarily relocation from the buffer zone of the Union Industrial Estate and well as those who are suffering the dust and noise. We are united across villages, ethnicity and political parties and will not back down.
2. La Brea wants jobs, but we are not dying for jobs. We want alternative development that actually builds human lives and communities. From the inception, this smelter has been shoved down our throats without any consideration of alternative uses of that site. No community in Trinidad wants smelters. The conditions in La Brea allowed people to prey on us and make us believe that this is the only way to get jobs. This not the only way. Alternative uses for that site have never been considered, not even in the EIA. We have never discussed recycling aluminium instead, building other light manufacturing, or commercial farming – the kinds of industries that would be suited to the skills actually available in the community. Alutrint, the NEC, and the EMA behave as though we are animals on their farm. We are saying to you here today and we hope you are listening; we are not animals on a farm. We are citizens in a country. We are not accepting the lies, trickery, and public relations gimmicks any more. The members of the Board of these indecent organizations please take note you are all out of order. We do not want your death smelter.
3. The concerned citizens of La Brea continue to call on the rest of Trinidad and Tobago to stand with us for justice. There are some who want to paint this as a la Brea matter and draw a line between insiders and outsiders. There are no outsiders and insiders, this could be happening to your family next. We the citizens of Trinidad are all the inside this problem. The outsiders are the Chinese. Everyone knows that there are challenges in La Brea when it comes to standing up for our rights. People are afraid of losing their jobs or not getting their ten days work or they have other strong loyalities. Alutrint cannot claim the silence of some as agreement. This silence is a sign of oppression. We ask that the rest of Trinidad stand up and support and pray for the people of La Brea to find the courage to free their minds and mouths from the chains that are fastened across them now.
The test of freedom is the ability to choose one’s life and the lives of our children above all other loyalties. We the concerned citizens have stood united across ethnicity, villages, and party lines. We are calling on all of La Brea to get up. Stand Up. Stand up for your rights. That smelter does not exist. There is nothing on that site. God is not planning to build that smelter. Man is planning to build the smelter. Stand up defend your families.
Stand up together and you will see, no smelter will be built on that ground. Contacts:
A. Carter: 305 7254 and E. Gour – 648-7127
Letter to Guardian Editor, 12th June, 2009, La Brea Citizens United
TODAY: Today the GuardianDear Editor, The Headline Carried in The Guardian New Papers: “Mom blames smelter protest for baby’s death” is imbalanced and contains several inaccuracies.
On Tuesday June 9, there were protests in La Brea at two points. One was at Sobo Village and the other at Union Village. We are not sure where Ms. Thomas was delayed. However, the villagers of Union Village are very sorry to hear that Ms. Thomas’ baby, who fell from a bed and was injured at home, later died. We wish to express our sincere condolences to Ms. Thomas and Stamlin.
We are however, very disturbed that the death of this child is being portrayed as having happened at the hand of villagers. The police have the full power to take charge of emergency transportation if a medical situation presents itself during protest action. It is unfortunate that the police did not exercise this judgment in Ms. Thomas’ case. If at any time this situation was brought to the attention of the villagers we would have certainly intervened where the police didn’t. We would have with haste cleared the road and asked the police to escort her to the hospital. However, if the delay arose at the Union Village site, this was never told to us either by Ms. Thomas or the police.
Had the Guardian contacted us for our perspective when writing this story, we would have provided you with this relevant fact and assisted the journalist to prepare a more balanced article free from other inaccuracies.
We appreciate too well the importance of life and one’s children. Our peaceful and legal protest actions are aimed at protecting our lives and children’s lives from sickness and death that is associated with the Alutrint Smelter. We hope that the rest of the country can understand what it means to have to live with the reality that you and your babies have to be tested every two years for life threatening diseases caused by a development, which was supposed to be for your betterment.
We have now provided the media through written statements as well verbal interviews with very clear information that we are not protesting for jobs. We are seeking to protect our lives and community. Therefore, we would be grateful if you would also correct the inaccuracy in your article that the protest was for jobs in the smelter complex.
On Tuesday June 9, there were protests in La Brea at two points. One was at Sobo Village and the other at Union Village. We are not sure where Ms. Thomas was delayed. However, the villagers of Union Village are very sorry to hear that Ms. Thomas’ baby, who fell from a bed and was injured at home, later died. We wish to express our sincere condolences to Ms. Thomas and Stamlin.
We are however, very disturbed that the death of this child is being portrayed as having happened at the hand of villagers. The police have the full power to take charge of emergency transportation if a medical situation presents itself during protest action. It is unfortunate that the police did not exercise this judgment in Ms. Thomas’ case. If at any time this situation was brought to the attention of the villagers we would have certainly intervened where the police didn’t. We would have with haste cleared the road and asked the police to escort her to the hospital. However, if the delay arose at the Union Village site, this was never told to us either by Ms. Thomas or the police.
Had the Guardian contacted us for our perspective when writing this story, we would have provided you with this relevant fact and assisted the journalist to prepare a more balanced article free from other inaccuracies.
We appreciate too well the importance of life and one’s children. Our peaceful and legal protest actions are aimed at protecting our lives and children’s lives from sickness and death that is associated with the Alutrint Smelter. We hope that the rest of the country can understand what it means to have to live with the reality that you and your babies have to be tested every two years for life threatening diseases caused by a development, which was supposed to be for your betterment.
We have now provided the media through written statements as well verbal interviews with very clear information that we are not protesting for jobs. We are seeking to protect our lives and community. Therefore, we would be grateful if you would also correct the inaccuracy in your article that the protest was for jobs in the smelter complex.
10th JUNE, 2009 PRESS STATEMENT FROM ORGANISED CITIZENS OF SOBO, UNION, VANCE RIVER, VESSIGNY, AND SQUARE DEAL VILLAGES: SOD TURNING A FARCE
The turning of the sod for Alutrint’s power plant is a farce.
The 4000 plus residents of the affected communities – Sobo, Vessigny, Vance River, and Union – are not the guests in the fancy tent erected for the event. The community is outside - organized in a peaceful protest. We are standing in solidarity with the people who are scheduled for relocation.
Our position is that the Alutrint smelter must go. Either you stop the smelter or move all of us. We are the ones who have to be “monitored” to see if we develop any sickness. We are not lab rats. We do not accept that as rightful citizens of Trinidad and Tobago we should be made to live with a risk that makes it necessary for us and our little children to have to be tested every two years for the development of a range of diseases including cancer.
We did not block any roads today and wish for our purpose not to be confused or buried underneath the position of the young men from La Brea and surrounding areas who want jobs on the smelter construction site, though our sympathies are with them. We hope that alternative safe industries that provide employment and actually build rather than destroy our communities could be brought to La Brea. We hope that these very young men on the streets today could have a choice between wholesome jobs not between getting a job and staying alive as a healthy human being.
The very many people who have found the time and resources to organize this extravagant sod turning event are the very people who have never had any time or resources to address the community concerns or even to come talk with us about the problems they have been causing us.
Every day we are eating and breathing dust. There is an epidemic of asthma, chest infections, and sinus illness in our villages. No children under the age of five will grow up healthy in the homes surrounding the plant. Their immunity is already compromised. The noise from Alutrint's works day and night have us jumping out of our sleep at night. We are sleep deprived and exhausted. Many of our houses are cracking and breaking from the vibrations caused by Alutrint and the power plant works. The conditions we are being put in are totally unhealthy, inhuman, and unfair.
Hundreds of us have already lost our livelihoods from farming, animal husbandry, hunting, bee keeping, and other activities because of the clearing of the land to build Alutrint. This smelter cannot bring jobs to compensate for our losses. There are no real benefits for our communities. Alutrint is an unfolding human rights tragedy.
This recent news about medical testing is the last straw. The State is trying to create the impression that all is well and that the smelter is moving ahead at pace and is unstoppable. They want the people of Trinidad to believe that we cannot stop it. This is not true. There is no plant on the ground yet. No plant will go on that ground.
We are calling on right minded citizens of Trinidad to support our call for justice and fairness. This is not just about the environment and is not only a local issue. We will continue our non-violent protests as long as it takes to safeguard our health and community.
The 4000 plus residents of the affected communities – Sobo, Vessigny, Vance River, and Union – are not the guests in the fancy tent erected for the event. The community is outside - organized in a peaceful protest. We are standing in solidarity with the people who are scheduled for relocation.
Our position is that the Alutrint smelter must go. Either you stop the smelter or move all of us. We are the ones who have to be “monitored” to see if we develop any sickness. We are not lab rats. We do not accept that as rightful citizens of Trinidad and Tobago we should be made to live with a risk that makes it necessary for us and our little children to have to be tested every two years for the development of a range of diseases including cancer.
We did not block any roads today and wish for our purpose not to be confused or buried underneath the position of the young men from La Brea and surrounding areas who want jobs on the smelter construction site, though our sympathies are with them. We hope that alternative safe industries that provide employment and actually build rather than destroy our communities could be brought to La Brea. We hope that these very young men on the streets today could have a choice between wholesome jobs not between getting a job and staying alive as a healthy human being.
The very many people who have found the time and resources to organize this extravagant sod turning event are the very people who have never had any time or resources to address the community concerns or even to come talk with us about the problems they have been causing us.
Every day we are eating and breathing dust. There is an epidemic of asthma, chest infections, and sinus illness in our villages. No children under the age of five will grow up healthy in the homes surrounding the plant. Their immunity is already compromised. The noise from Alutrint's works day and night have us jumping out of our sleep at night. We are sleep deprived and exhausted. Many of our houses are cracking and breaking from the vibrations caused by Alutrint and the power plant works. The conditions we are being put in are totally unhealthy, inhuman, and unfair.
Hundreds of us have already lost our livelihoods from farming, animal husbandry, hunting, bee keeping, and other activities because of the clearing of the land to build Alutrint. This smelter cannot bring jobs to compensate for our losses. There are no real benefits for our communities. Alutrint is an unfolding human rights tragedy.
This recent news about medical testing is the last straw. The State is trying to create the impression that all is well and that the smelter is moving ahead at pace and is unstoppable. They want the people of Trinidad to believe that we cannot stop it. This is not true. There is no plant on the ground yet. No plant will go on that ground.
We are calling on right minded citizens of Trinidad to support our call for justice and fairness. This is not just about the environment and is not only a local issue. We will continue our non-violent protests as long as it takes to safeguard our health and community.
9th June, 2009 Press Statement from Organized Citizens of Sobo, Vessigny, Vance River and Square Deal Villages
We understand Mr. Manning is planning to come La Brea tomorrow to turn the sod for Alutrint's power plant.
MR. MANNING, SMELTER NOT WELCOME!
Protests involving the villages of Sobo, Vance River, Vessigny, and Union are growing. The citizens involved are against the building of the Alutrint Smelter. We now have the information that Alutrint has been hiding since February 2008 on the health risks of the smelter and the facts on such things as the loss of our beach that has been hidden from us since 2005. Please note protests that started about two weeks ago were for jobs and fair relocation practices. However, our protest is by villagers being left to live near this smelter and we do not want it!
The residents scheduled for relocation and the residents being left behind are standing together. Those who want jobs in Alutrint have a separate platform. However, we sympathise with them as we have all been fooled that there would be safe jobs for our people. Instead we have hundreds of Chinese roaming about our backyards. The representatives on many village councils and in the Parliament are representing Alutrint not us. They are trying to shove the smelter down our throat to silence us. This is why we are in the streets, we are representing ourselves.
Today the police discharged a firearm in the air in the midst of children in Union Village. Our protest is non-violent. We will not back down. The State wants the people of Trinidad to believe that only a handful of residents of La Brea do not want the smelter. This is not true. For example, last week when C-news came to do a feature on La Brea they were only taken to La Brea Village where some persons told them they want the smelter. We waited for them but they never came to our villages. Please note the La Brea area consists of many villages. It is the some 4000 plus residents of Sobo, Vance River, Union, and Vessigny villages that have to be tested every two years for cancer. The residents of La Brea Village do not have to be tested. They cannot speak for us! We speak for ourselves. We do not accept this hurtful smelter.
The State is trying to create the impression that all is well and that the smelter is moving ahead at pace and is unstoppable. They want the people of Trinidad to believe we cannot stop it. This is not true. There is no plant on the ground yet. No plant will go on that ground. We are calling on right minded citizens of Trinidad to support our call for justice and fairness. This is not just about the environment. We will continue our non-violent protests tomorrow and as long as it takes to safeguard our health and community.
MR. MANNING, SMELTER NOT WELCOME!
Protests involving the villages of Sobo, Vance River, Vessigny, and Union are growing. The citizens involved are against the building of the Alutrint Smelter. We now have the information that Alutrint has been hiding since February 2008 on the health risks of the smelter and the facts on such things as the loss of our beach that has been hidden from us since 2005. Please note protests that started about two weeks ago were for jobs and fair relocation practices. However, our protest is by villagers being left to live near this smelter and we do not want it!
The residents scheduled for relocation and the residents being left behind are standing together. Those who want jobs in Alutrint have a separate platform. However, we sympathise with them as we have all been fooled that there would be safe jobs for our people. Instead we have hundreds of Chinese roaming about our backyards. The representatives on many village councils and in the Parliament are representing Alutrint not us. They are trying to shove the smelter down our throat to silence us. This is why we are in the streets, we are representing ourselves.
Today the police discharged a firearm in the air in the midst of children in Union Village. Our protest is non-violent. We will not back down. The State wants the people of Trinidad to believe that only a handful of residents of La Brea do not want the smelter. This is not true. For example, last week when C-news came to do a feature on La Brea they were only taken to La Brea Village where some persons told them they want the smelter. We waited for them but they never came to our villages. Please note the La Brea area consists of many villages. It is the some 4000 plus residents of Sobo, Vance River, Union, and Vessigny villages that have to be tested every two years for cancer. The residents of La Brea Village do not have to be tested. They cannot speak for us! We speak for ourselves. We do not accept this hurtful smelter.
The State is trying to create the impression that all is well and that the smelter is moving ahead at pace and is unstoppable. They want the people of Trinidad to believe we cannot stop it. This is not true. There is no plant on the ground yet. No plant will go on that ground. We are calling on right minded citizens of Trinidad to support our call for justice and fairness. This is not just about the environment. We will continue our non-violent protests tomorrow and as long as it takes to safeguard our health and community.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
DRUMMIT UPDATE and Focus on Alutrint
Dear All,
Gayelle The Channel made a documentary of the first Drummit which took place on 18th April, 2009. It is to be aired on Emancipation Day, 1st, August, 2009.
The second Drummit took place on 23rd May. All the community voices who were denied the opportunity to speak at the first Drummit spoke, including anti Alutrint smelter voices from Chatham and anti Essar Steel Mill voices from Pranz Gardens and Claxton Bay. Voices from Acono Village opposed to the deregulation of the quarry sector, a representative of the Food Crop Farmers, Rights Action Group, Fishermen and Friends of the Sea also spoke. The Mid-night Smelta performed. Drummit2 was supported by a combination of African and Indian drummers. Details on Drummit2 will be posted soon.
Truth Drummers have been in La Brea over the last few weeks sharing information with residents that Alutrint and the EMA have been concealing. This blog will now focus on Alutrint.
Gayelle The Channel made a documentary of the first Drummit which took place on 18th April, 2009. It is to be aired on Emancipation Day, 1st, August, 2009.
The second Drummit took place on 23rd May. All the community voices who were denied the opportunity to speak at the first Drummit spoke, including anti Alutrint smelter voices from Chatham and anti Essar Steel Mill voices from Pranz Gardens and Claxton Bay. Voices from Acono Village opposed to the deregulation of the quarry sector, a representative of the Food Crop Farmers, Rights Action Group, Fishermen and Friends of the Sea also spoke. The Mid-night Smelta performed. Drummit2 was supported by a combination of African and Indian drummers. Details on Drummit2 will be posted soon.
Truth Drummers have been in La Brea over the last few weeks sharing information with residents that Alutrint and the EMA have been concealing. This blog will now focus on Alutrint.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Press Release on Government's announcement that it is taking a loan of 400 million US from China to build the Alutrint Aluminium Smelter
From Rights Action Group (RAG)
The announcement by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mrs. Paula Gopee-Scoon that the Government is taking a loan of US400 million, that is 2.5 Billion TT dollars from the Government of China to build the dubious Alutrint Aluminium Smelter is akin to high noon robbery of the Trinbagonian people and further evidence that we the people may have lost our democratic rights in our own country.
It is not surprising that the Government has failed to secure a private sector partner to replace Sural, as it had announced it would be doing a few months ago, for two reasons:
1. No sensible company would go near a smelter that is being built on a geologically unstable area, within an earthquake zone, on top of a water table that is no more than one foot below the ground. Alutrint's own Medical Monitoring Plan, stipulates that the workers in the plant would have to be tested every year for cancer and that some 9000 people living in La Brea, Sobo, Vessigny, Vance River and Union Villages - man, woman, new born babies - would have to be tested every two years for cancer. Experienced companies know that Alutrint is a human rights and environmental tragedy unfolding in Trinidad and Tobago.
2. The aluminium market is in a deep slump. Experienced aluminium companies around the world, such as the world's largest producer UC Rusal, and Alcoa are shelving new smelter projects and have been retrenching workers worldwide, including in Jamaica and Guyana, just next door. Alcoa so far has lain off 176,000 workers. These companies are not only into aluminium smelting, they own bauxite mines, the ore that is processed into alumina, which is then smelted to produce aluminium. Companies such as these are best placed to make a profit from a new aluminium smelter powered by cheap gas. Yet they know it would be financial suicide to finance a new smelter, much less to go out and take a loan to start one. The market is not projected to recover even in the next fifteen years. Alutrint says it has a production life of 30 years. Do the math. The only people going against this industry trend are the Chinese. If one looks at the global trend, one would see that China, with money to spare, is taking this opportunity to grab the bauxite, gas, and other resources of poor countries to increase its control of aluminium and its control of the world.
Therefore, RAG is also not surprised that China is giving Trinidad and Tobago a loan to build this ill-fated smelter. This smelter is being built by Chinese workers with Trinidadian money given in advance by China, which we will repay to China with interest. They have made a sweet (for them and sour (for us) deal . As we watched high ranking government officials clinking glasses on TV with the Chinese ambassador, we could only imagine this must be what it looks like when freedom wilts.
As we Trinbagonians are "tightening our belts" our Government is taking out a 2.5 billion dollar loan in the face of a global and national recession, to advance a project for which the our Courts have not yet pronounced on the legality of the Certificate of Environmental Clearance (CEC), that Alutrint received from the Environmental management Authority (EMA) on April 2nd, 2007.
After six years, the Government has failed to produce a single cost benefit analysis to prove that this project would be beneficial as it widely claims to the people of La Brea and to Trinidad and Tobago.
Perhaps the most fundamental point that should not escape the Trinbagonian people is that this 30 year gas guzzling smelter - a sure inept investment given that our proven natural gas reserves are for only 12 years - was to have benefited from a partnership with Sural, a Venezuelan multi-national with downstream aluminium products processing experience. Sural was to have brought not only capital but the experience in what the Government calls "value- added" production of wire, rods, rims, and other products.
Instead what we have is a smelter being built under the management of a CEO who happens to be the nubile son of Mr. Ken Julian (the ‘energy czar’). Phillip Julian has had no prior experience in a smelter, in aluminium production of wire, rims, rods, etc., or in managing a multi-billion dollar corporation. We are taking a loan of 2.5 billion dollars on the heads of every Trinbagonian person and putting into the hands of Mr. Ken Julian's son, Mr. Philip Julian, to start a business that by all indicators thus far is financially unviable and for which we have no experience whatsoever in an industry when those companies who do have such experience are pulling back. The fact is that Sural has pulled out and there is now no partner with any downstream process experience. There is just debt.
Further, RAG is calling on the Government and Editorial Boards and Owners of media houses to stop perpetuating myths about the Alutrint aluminium smelter.
Alutrint claims that the project is moving forward in an environmentally careful way. Perhaps it has not noticed the substance of the Judicial Review case that is still before our High Court. Until the Court pronounces, we view these statements by the Corporate-Executive arm of the State, carried uncritically by some in the media, as being in contempt of the Courts. The Corporate-Executive arm of government is operating as if the judiciary is irrelevant. Is this the extent to which our democracy has been weakened?
RAG wishes to remind the public that Alutrint was peddled to us as the "smallest smelter" in this part of the world. Its size was a factor always quoted in the Government's claims that the smelter is "safe" and "sustainable". Yet they are now telling us that the 125,000 Metric Tonne per Year (MTpY) capacity is only Phase 1, that a Phase 2 production increase is already planned to take the smelter to a 250,000 MTpY.
RAG also wishes to remind the public of the so called dream of Jamaica, Guyana, and Trinidad and Tobago in the days of Michael Manley, Eric Williams, and Forbes Burnham involved bauxite mining, alumina refining, and aluminium smelting in the Caribbean Region by Caribbean people. It is not appropriate to keep invoking this dream when speaking of the Alutrint smelter. Today, all Caribbean bauxite mines are wholly or partly owned by private multi-national corporations. We in Trinidad will be buying the alumina from a private company not from any of our Caribbean brothers and sisters and, are taking a loan from China to smelt it into aluminium. We are only left to wonder who will be buying the aluminium from us. We wonder if we will even own the aluminium at all or if we will be paying back China in production quotas.
Further, RAG would like to remind the media and the public that at no point in the past six years has Alutrint ever produced a list of the specific employment opportunities that would be available to Trinbagonians and particularly residents of the La Brea and surrounding areas. At no point has Alutrint shown "employment opportunities" against the skills that exist or could actually be developed among local people so that they would "benefit" from "jobs". At no point has the Alutrint project shown that there would be "thousands and thousands of jobs" that the Minister Paula Gopee-Scoon spoke to in her statement yesterday. What is known is that hundreds of people were impoverished by the clearing of the land for building the smelter. They lost their farms, their animals - these were their "jobs" - jobs already lost!
RAG also wishes to point out that at no point has the Government been able or willing to prove to the Trinbagonian people that the investment in an aluminium sector represents the economic diversification it claims. Making rods, rims, and wire from smelted aluminium powered with natural gas is not diversification away from natural gas. How can we diversify our economy by getting into areas that are intensely energy dependent?
Furthermore, we are using our 12 years proven supply of natural gas to extract a metal, which is so notorious around the world for the energy needed to smelt it, that aluminium itself is in fact referred to as "solid energy".
The Cabinet has never disclosed the price at which the gas would be made available to the smelter, despite this being a requirement of our National Environmental Policy, and has never produced the financial proof that this project would be profitable or that it is better than alternative economic pursuits in the La Brea area. Yet we are told that a loan of 2.5 billion TT dollars on the heads of the children of this country has been agreed to.
History is repeating itself in Trinidad and Tobago. It is a sad day for the people of Trinidad and Tobago when the political party founded by the late Eric Williams has taken this country back to colonialism. It is a sad day for our people when the same architects of the first squandermania in the late 1970s have taken us into a second squandermania. A squandermania in an oil and gas boom is reckless; a squandermania in a recession could only be executed by individuals who value dictatorship over democracy.
This squandermania could only be executed by individuals who believe that it is correct and right for poor people in Trinidad to lose the little they have and to live in perpetual risk and fear of getting cancer.
RAG is calling on all right minded members of the PNM party to counsel their leaders away from the tragic path they are pursuing.
RAG is calling on all opposition parties to announce that they would not honour this Chinese loan if they come into Government.
RAG is calling on Community Organisations, NGOs, religious Bodies, Trade Unions, the business sector and other civil society bodies and individual citizens to stand up against this tragedy we are all about to gift to our children. It is upon us to save our economy, our democracy, our very country.
The announcement by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mrs. Paula Gopee-Scoon that the Government is taking a loan of US400 million, that is 2.5 Billion TT dollars from the Government of China to build the dubious Alutrint Aluminium Smelter is akin to high noon robbery of the Trinbagonian people and further evidence that we the people may have lost our democratic rights in our own country.
It is not surprising that the Government has failed to secure a private sector partner to replace Sural, as it had announced it would be doing a few months ago, for two reasons:
1. No sensible company would go near a smelter that is being built on a geologically unstable area, within an earthquake zone, on top of a water table that is no more than one foot below the ground. Alutrint's own Medical Monitoring Plan, stipulates that the workers in the plant would have to be tested every year for cancer and that some 9000 people living in La Brea, Sobo, Vessigny, Vance River and Union Villages - man, woman, new born babies - would have to be tested every two years for cancer. Experienced companies know that Alutrint is a human rights and environmental tragedy unfolding in Trinidad and Tobago.
2. The aluminium market is in a deep slump. Experienced aluminium companies around the world, such as the world's largest producer UC Rusal, and Alcoa are shelving new smelter projects and have been retrenching workers worldwide, including in Jamaica and Guyana, just next door. Alcoa so far has lain off 176,000 workers. These companies are not only into aluminium smelting, they own bauxite mines, the ore that is processed into alumina, which is then smelted to produce aluminium. Companies such as these are best placed to make a profit from a new aluminium smelter powered by cheap gas. Yet they know it would be financial suicide to finance a new smelter, much less to go out and take a loan to start one. The market is not projected to recover even in the next fifteen years. Alutrint says it has a production life of 30 years. Do the math. The only people going against this industry trend are the Chinese. If one looks at the global trend, one would see that China, with money to spare, is taking this opportunity to grab the bauxite, gas, and other resources of poor countries to increase its control of aluminium and its control of the world.
Therefore, RAG is also not surprised that China is giving Trinidad and Tobago a loan to build this ill-fated smelter. This smelter is being built by Chinese workers with Trinidadian money given in advance by China, which we will repay to China with interest. They have made a sweet (for them and sour (for us) deal . As we watched high ranking government officials clinking glasses on TV with the Chinese ambassador, we could only imagine this must be what it looks like when freedom wilts.
As we Trinbagonians are "tightening our belts" our Government is taking out a 2.5 billion dollar loan in the face of a global and national recession, to advance a project for which the our Courts have not yet pronounced on the legality of the Certificate of Environmental Clearance (CEC), that Alutrint received from the Environmental management Authority (EMA) on April 2nd, 2007.
After six years, the Government has failed to produce a single cost benefit analysis to prove that this project would be beneficial as it widely claims to the people of La Brea and to Trinidad and Tobago.
Perhaps the most fundamental point that should not escape the Trinbagonian people is that this 30 year gas guzzling smelter - a sure inept investment given that our proven natural gas reserves are for only 12 years - was to have benefited from a partnership with Sural, a Venezuelan multi-national with downstream aluminium products processing experience. Sural was to have brought not only capital but the experience in what the Government calls "value- added" production of wire, rods, rims, and other products.
Instead what we have is a smelter being built under the management of a CEO who happens to be the nubile son of Mr. Ken Julian (the ‘energy czar’). Phillip Julian has had no prior experience in a smelter, in aluminium production of wire, rims, rods, etc., or in managing a multi-billion dollar corporation. We are taking a loan of 2.5 billion dollars on the heads of every Trinbagonian person and putting into the hands of Mr. Ken Julian's son, Mr. Philip Julian, to start a business that by all indicators thus far is financially unviable and for which we have no experience whatsoever in an industry when those companies who do have such experience are pulling back. The fact is that Sural has pulled out and there is now no partner with any downstream process experience. There is just debt.
Further, RAG is calling on the Government and Editorial Boards and Owners of media houses to stop perpetuating myths about the Alutrint aluminium smelter.
Alutrint claims that the project is moving forward in an environmentally careful way. Perhaps it has not noticed the substance of the Judicial Review case that is still before our High Court. Until the Court pronounces, we view these statements by the Corporate-Executive arm of the State, carried uncritically by some in the media, as being in contempt of the Courts. The Corporate-Executive arm of government is operating as if the judiciary is irrelevant. Is this the extent to which our democracy has been weakened?
RAG wishes to remind the public that Alutrint was peddled to us as the "smallest smelter" in this part of the world. Its size was a factor always quoted in the Government's claims that the smelter is "safe" and "sustainable". Yet they are now telling us that the 125,000 Metric Tonne per Year (MTpY) capacity is only Phase 1, that a Phase 2 production increase is already planned to take the smelter to a 250,000 MTpY.
RAG also wishes to remind the public of the so called dream of Jamaica, Guyana, and Trinidad and Tobago in the days of Michael Manley, Eric Williams, and Forbes Burnham involved bauxite mining, alumina refining, and aluminium smelting in the Caribbean Region by Caribbean people. It is not appropriate to keep invoking this dream when speaking of the Alutrint smelter. Today, all Caribbean bauxite mines are wholly or partly owned by private multi-national corporations. We in Trinidad will be buying the alumina from a private company not from any of our Caribbean brothers and sisters and, are taking a loan from China to smelt it into aluminium. We are only left to wonder who will be buying the aluminium from us. We wonder if we will even own the aluminium at all or if we will be paying back China in production quotas.
Further, RAG would like to remind the media and the public that at no point in the past six years has Alutrint ever produced a list of the specific employment opportunities that would be available to Trinbagonians and particularly residents of the La Brea and surrounding areas. At no point has Alutrint shown "employment opportunities" against the skills that exist or could actually be developed among local people so that they would "benefit" from "jobs". At no point has the Alutrint project shown that there would be "thousands and thousands of jobs" that the Minister Paula Gopee-Scoon spoke to in her statement yesterday. What is known is that hundreds of people were impoverished by the clearing of the land for building the smelter. They lost their farms, their animals - these were their "jobs" - jobs already lost!
RAG also wishes to point out that at no point has the Government been able or willing to prove to the Trinbagonian people that the investment in an aluminium sector represents the economic diversification it claims. Making rods, rims, and wire from smelted aluminium powered with natural gas is not diversification away from natural gas. How can we diversify our economy by getting into areas that are intensely energy dependent?
Furthermore, we are using our 12 years proven supply of natural gas to extract a metal, which is so notorious around the world for the energy needed to smelt it, that aluminium itself is in fact referred to as "solid energy".
The Cabinet has never disclosed the price at which the gas would be made available to the smelter, despite this being a requirement of our National Environmental Policy, and has never produced the financial proof that this project would be profitable or that it is better than alternative economic pursuits in the La Brea area. Yet we are told that a loan of 2.5 billion TT dollars on the heads of the children of this country has been agreed to.
History is repeating itself in Trinidad and Tobago. It is a sad day for the people of Trinidad and Tobago when the political party founded by the late Eric Williams has taken this country back to colonialism. It is a sad day for our people when the same architects of the first squandermania in the late 1970s have taken us into a second squandermania. A squandermania in an oil and gas boom is reckless; a squandermania in a recession could only be executed by individuals who value dictatorship over democracy.
This squandermania could only be executed by individuals who believe that it is correct and right for poor people in Trinidad to lose the little they have and to live in perpetual risk and fear of getting cancer.
RAG is calling on all right minded members of the PNM party to counsel their leaders away from the tragic path they are pursuing.
RAG is calling on all opposition parties to announce that they would not honour this Chinese loan if they come into Government.
RAG is calling on Community Organisations, NGOs, religious Bodies, Trade Unions, the business sector and other civil society bodies and individual citizens to stand up against this tragedy we are all about to gift to our children. It is upon us to save our economy, our democracy, our very country.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Patrick Manning, Prime Minister, Trinidad and Tobago, at the End he was all alone - the Sole Signatory - an Enigma in his "delirious dreams"
He was difficult for the other Heads of State to comprehend. The day before signing his own Declaration committing to 'environmental sustainability, energy security and human prosperity', he announced to them that construction of this country's largest power station "was about to be begin".
He continued "this year construction is about to begin on our first aluminium smelter and the introduction of a new industry and all that goes with the possibilities associated with downstream out of the availability domestically of the primary product, aluminium and because it is energy intensive we are about to begin production on the largest power station ever to be constructed in this country of about 720 megawatts". Manning beamed proudly at the other Heads of State "it is a large power station".
Prime Minister Manning went on " Trinidad and Tobago has "done a lot with a little" in terms of its energy resources, adding "there are many other plants on the drawing board"..."one of the reasons why we have raised a partial scope agreement with the USA is because there are a number of investors who are anxious to invest in downstream industries based on the availability of primary products but who are not prepared to take the step unless they are guaranteed a certain access to the US market and under acceptable terms and conditions. That my dear friends, is on the table". (quotes taken from The Daily Express, Tuesday 21st April 2009).
Manning's idea of 'environmental sustainability' and 'energy security' is to introduce the largest power plant ever and to build an aluminium smelter. How Obama must have cringed thinking back on his own energy policy which seeks to "reduce green house gas emissions 80% by 2050".
On reflection however, Obama may well sign the 'partial scope agreement' mentioned by Manning as it will concentrate all the pollution and global warming in Trinidad and Tobago. Not USA, and at the same time, the USA can have all the consumption benefits.
In the Granma (21st April) Fidel Castro described the OAS 5th Summit of the Americas in POS Trinidad as "seeming to be in the realm of delirious dreams". Fidel Castro had listened to press conference led by Manning, Stephen Harper (Canada), Felipe Calderon (Mexico) and Martin Torrijos (Panama), he said "according to them it has been the most extraordinary summit that ever took place. Some kind of miracle must have occurred, I thought. The philosopher's stone must have been discovered".
Thinking Trinbagonians know the stone of which he speaks. The Summit binge is over and the gas rush continues. Read more below...
Monday, April 13, 2009
Growing the National Carbon Footprint - Carbon Dioxide
T&T presently produces approx 33 million t/yr of CO2 from fossil fuel.
Essar Steel’s approved plant would produce an additional 900 000 t/yr of CO2 initially, rising to 1 870 000 t/yr.
Adding 760 000 t/yr of CO2 production from a 240 MW captive power plant for Essar; gives us a total of 2 630 000 t/yr of CO2 .
If Essar pursues its declared interest in putting up a second mill similar to the first, its CO2 emissions would double to 5 260 000 t/yr.
The 720 MW power plant proposed for La Brea would generate 2 300 000 t/yr of CO2 . In addition, Alutrint would release greenhouse gases from the smelter rooms at a rate of up to 2 tonnes of CO2 equivalent per tonne of aluminium produced, i.e. 250 000 t/yr of CO2 equivalent.
ALCOA would cause release of as much as 2 760 000 t/yr of CO2 equivalent from smelter rooms and electricity generation.
Total additional CO2 from the proposed plants, excluding the future extensions, is estimated as an additional ‘cool’ 25%. This is global warming T&T Vision 2020 style.
Essar Steel’s approved plant would produce an additional 900 000 t/yr of CO2 initially, rising to 1 870 000 t/yr.
Adding 760 000 t/yr of CO2 production from a 240 MW captive power plant for Essar; gives us a total of 2 630 000 t/yr of CO2 .
If Essar pursues its declared interest in putting up a second mill similar to the first, its CO2 emissions would double to 5 260 000 t/yr.
The 720 MW power plant proposed for La Brea would generate 2 300 000 t/yr of CO2 . In addition, Alutrint would release greenhouse gases from the smelter rooms at a rate of up to 2 tonnes of CO2 equivalent per tonne of aluminium produced, i.e. 250 000 t/yr of CO2 equivalent.
ALCOA would cause release of as much as 2 760 000 t/yr of CO2 equivalent from smelter rooms and electricity generation.
Total additional CO2 from the proposed plants, excluding the future extensions, is estimated as an additional ‘cool’ 25%. This is global warming T&T Vision 2020 style.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Water - Need or Right?
A World Water Forum was held in March 2008 in Istanbul, Turkey, where a week-long gathering discussed water policy at a time when over a billion people lack access to clean water and two-and-a-half billion lack water for proper sanitation.
Activists from the People’s Water Forum, an alternative formation representing rural poor, the environment and organized labor, slammed the official event as a non-inclusive, corporate-driven fraud pushing for water privatization and called for a more open, democratic and transparent forum.
The forum, which is organized every three years by the French-based World Water Council, is funded in large part by the water industry. The forum opened with Turkish police firing tear gas and detaining protesters, who were shouting “water for life, not for profit.”
The final non-binding communiqué from the official forum describes access to water as a “basic human need” rather than a ‘human right’, despite efforts by dissenting Latin American countries...” (Democracy Now, 23 Mar 09)
“Recognizing water as a basic human right would mean equating it with other fundamental rights already observed by the United Nations, defining it as an unalienable right, and obligating most governments to ensure this for their entire populations.
Bolivia, Chile, Cuba, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela refused to sign the final declaration of this year’s water forum in Istanbul, but instead an alternative declaration that did recognize access to water as a basic human right”.
According to Maude Barlow, the senior adviser on water issues to the United Nations General Assembly, in an interview on New York-based radio program ‘Democracy Now’, “The World Water Forum is bankrupt of new ways to address the growing water crisis in the world, because they have maintained an adherence to an ideology that is not working, that has dramatically failed,”.
In a press conference, Bolivian Environment Minister René Orellana said this declaration “ignores native peoples, collective rights to water, local or community systems of water management, but above all, there was no political will to include any change to the text.”The 25 nations that signed an alternative declaration made a call for future debates over water with greater participation, social inclusion and democratic values. (Latinamerica Press, 2009).
According to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, “46 million of the 580 million inhabitants in the region lack access to drinking water, and 121 million do not have sanitation”.
See below for Trinidad and Tobago's position on water...
Activists from the People’s Water Forum, an alternative formation representing rural poor, the environment and organized labor, slammed the official event as a non-inclusive, corporate-driven fraud pushing for water privatization and called for a more open, democratic and transparent forum.
The forum, which is organized every three years by the French-based World Water Council, is funded in large part by the water industry. The forum opened with Turkish police firing tear gas and detaining protesters, who were shouting “water for life, not for profit.”
The final non-binding communiqué from the official forum describes access to water as a “basic human need” rather than a ‘human right’, despite efforts by dissenting Latin American countries...” (Democracy Now, 23 Mar 09)
“Recognizing water as a basic human right would mean equating it with other fundamental rights already observed by the United Nations, defining it as an unalienable right, and obligating most governments to ensure this for their entire populations.
Bolivia, Chile, Cuba, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela refused to sign the final declaration of this year’s water forum in Istanbul, but instead an alternative declaration that did recognize access to water as a basic human right”.
According to Maude Barlow, the senior adviser on water issues to the United Nations General Assembly, in an interview on New York-based radio program ‘Democracy Now’, “The World Water Forum is bankrupt of new ways to address the growing water crisis in the world, because they have maintained an adherence to an ideology that is not working, that has dramatically failed,”.
In a press conference, Bolivian Environment Minister René Orellana said this declaration “ignores native peoples, collective rights to water, local or community systems of water management, but above all, there was no political will to include any change to the text.”The 25 nations that signed an alternative declaration made a call for future debates over water with greater participation, social inclusion and democratic values. (Latinamerica Press, 2009).
According to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, “46 million of the 580 million inhabitants in the region lack access to drinking water, and 121 million do not have sanitation”.
See below for Trinidad and Tobago's position on water...
A BIT for a GAS RUSH License looks like this...
The T&T Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) with the United States came into force in 1996, and covers the following areas:
Treatment of investment: requires that the treatment of foreign investments is no less favorable than that accorded to domestic investments ("national treatment").
Expropriation: prohibits expropriation or nationalization of an investment without just compensation.
Compensation for damages: requires national treatment for investments suffering losses from war and similar events.
Transfers: permits financial transfers relating to investments to be made freely and without delay into and out of each country's territory.
Performance requirements: prohibits performance requirements as a condition for investment.
Alien entry: liberalizes certain visa regimes relating to entry, sojourn and employment of aliens for establishment and operation of investments of substantial capital amounts.
Dispute settlement: provides for dispute resolution alternatives, including binding arbitration.
Economic reform, and trade and investment liberalization have led to substantial foreign investment inflows. The U.S. continues to be the single largest foreign investor in Trinidad and Tobago. Other large foreign investors include the United Kingdom (petroleum and financial services), Canada (petroleum, petrochemicals and financial services), Germany (petrochemicals), India (iron/steel), Norway (petrochemicals), Australia (petroleum) and Spain (petroleum). The bulk of foreign investment is in the country’s lucrative energy-based sectors.
(taken from website of US Department of State, 2005)
Read on the results are impressive...
Treatment of investment: requires that the treatment of foreign investments is no less favorable than that accorded to domestic investments ("national treatment").
Expropriation: prohibits expropriation or nationalization of an investment without just compensation.
Compensation for damages: requires national treatment for investments suffering losses from war and similar events.
Transfers: permits financial transfers relating to investments to be made freely and without delay into and out of each country's territory.
Performance requirements: prohibits performance requirements as a condition for investment.
Alien entry: liberalizes certain visa regimes relating to entry, sojourn and employment of aliens for establishment and operation of investments of substantial capital amounts.
Dispute settlement: provides for dispute resolution alternatives, including binding arbitration.
Economic reform, and trade and investment liberalization have led to substantial foreign investment inflows. The U.S. continues to be the single largest foreign investor in Trinidad and Tobago. Other large foreign investors include the United Kingdom (petroleum and financial services), Canada (petroleum, petrochemicals and financial services), Germany (petrochemicals), India (iron/steel), Norway (petrochemicals), Australia (petroleum) and Spain (petroleum). The bulk of foreign investment is in the country’s lucrative energy-based sectors.
(taken from website of US Department of State, 2005)
Read on the results are impressive...
Friday, April 10, 2009
Heads of States Reject Transparency Recommendation by Civil Society
When the CARIBBEAN SUB REGIONAL CIVIL SOCIETY FORUM met in POS Trinidad on October 30-31, 2008, in preparation for the April 2009 Summit, it recommended “reporting on energy and environmental developments and basing these on international codes of best practice for the energy and extractive industries in compliance with the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) and for the new biofuel industries”.
Unsurprisingly, this recommendation was left out of the draft Declaration of Commitment to be signed by the Heads of State. The EITI aims to strengthen governance by improving transparency and accountability in the extractives sector. The EITI sets a global standard for companies to publish what they pay and for governments to disclose what they receive. Why would the host State Trinidad & Tobago want to avoid global transparency standards in the oil and gas sector? Because a “GAS RUSH” is on…
Unsurprisingly, this recommendation was left out of the draft Declaration of Commitment to be signed by the Heads of State. The EITI aims to strengthen governance by improving transparency and accountability in the extractives sector. The EITI sets a global standard for companies to publish what they pay and for governments to disclose what they receive. Why would the host State Trinidad & Tobago want to avoid global transparency standards in the oil and gas sector? Because a “GAS RUSH” is on…
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