PM: Smelter work won’t stop

By Richardson Dhalai Wednesday, July 1 2009
http://www.newsday.co.tt/news/0,102964.html

Two weeks after a High Court ruling stopped site works for the construction of the Alutrint aluminium smelter plant, Prime Minister Patrick Manning yesterday vowed the plant will be built unless the court rejects the entire project.

Manning said there was a high cost to work stoppage on the project which would proceed pending a review of an application for a certificate of environmental clearance (CEC) by the Environmental Management Authority (EMA).

“The cost of stopping work on that project, it is a very high so what we have decided to do is to continue until such time there is a rejection of the project and that has not happened,” Manning said, adding, “it is unlikely that will happen.”

On June 16, Justice Mira Dean-Armorer ruled the EMA acted in an “outrageous”, “irrational”, “procedurally irregular” and illegal manner when it granted a CEC for work to start on the construction of the smelter plant at La Brea. The judge found the EMA failed to consider a crucial report on the cumulative impact of the smelter plant and a now under-construction power plant, as well as a planned port facility, and this tainted the process to approve plans for the project. The judge was invited to stay her ruling to allow lawyers for Alutrint and the State to file an appeal but she declined. Her decision ought to have stopped all work on the project, but activity still continues at the site, according to environmentalists. However, Manning told reporters in San Fernando yesterday that the court had objected to the process under which the CEC was granted and not to the smelter plant itself. “The courts did not object to the smelter, the courts just said the process needed to be beefed up in a certain area and that’s what we are seeking to do now,” he said. Manning added the EMA “is moving as fast as possible to ensure that if a CEC is granted in the future, it is in accordance with all the procedure and to obtain the satisfaction of the court.” Asked to disclose the sums already invested on construction activities at the smelter and power plant sites, Manning said, “Plenty money.. It costs hundreds of millions.” Should the appeal process reach to the Privy Council, Manning admitted the London- based court may rule in favour of environmental preservation as opposed to sustainable development. “(The UK) is a developed society with standards which are very relevant to them but not relevant to us. They (the Privy Council) took the point of view there would be no hanging....they are going to take a pure position on environmental preservation as opposed to sustainable development,” he stated. He made these points as he commented on the need for the Caribbean Court of Justice, which is based in Port-of-Spain, to become the country’s final appellate court.