MiamiHerald.com: Pollution in the Caribbean - Villagers in Trinidad and Tobago say no to Alcoa plans

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Pollution in the Caribbean - "Villagers in Trinidad and Tobago say no to Alcoa smelter plans" - by JACQUELINE CHARLES

Villagers in Trinidad and Tobago are vowing to fight government plans to allow U.S.-based Alcoa to build an aluminum smelter on a man-made island.Already one of the wealthiest countries in the Caribbean with 12.6 percent economic growth last year and per capita income of $19,700, according to the CIA World FactBook, Trinidad and Tobago is a leading provider of natural gas to the United States.

Otaheite, a village about 45 miles southwest of the capital city of Port-of-Spain, has become the latest battlefield in the struggle over Manning's desires to create a modern industrial state by allowing U.S.-based aluminum giant Alcoa to build a $1.5 billion smelter on this twin-island Caribbean nation. Manning and his ruling People's National Movement government argue that the Alcoa plant, and a less controversial one being developed for the nearby La Brea community, will create hundreds of new jobs, allowing the already industrialized nation to further diversify its oil and natural gas-based economy.But environmentalists say the negative impact of Alcoa's smelter's emissions and solid wastes residue will far outweigh any positive economic gains. For months they have led a barrage of bruising protests that have shut down roads and often turned into shouting matches.

The smelter debate also has leaked into politics in an election year in this deeply polarized nation, where the population of 1.3 million is almost equally split between Afro-Trinidadians and Indo-Trinidadians. Opposition groups have used the controversy to try to portray Manning as being out of touch with the people.'They cannot seem to understand the word `No.' - No Smelter,' said Peter Vine, an agricultural physicist and lecturer at the University of the West Indies here, who is among the scholars, musicians, farmers and now fishermen fighting to keep the smelter out of Trinidad and Tobago. ``We don't want Alcoa. End of discussion.''

Note EU-Digest: Alcoa is the world's leading producer of primary aluminum, fabricated aluminum, and alumina and is active in all major aspects of the aluminum industry. For information on some of Alcoa's world-wide pollution problems click on this link

or go to http://www.nosmeltertnt.com/alcoa_lawsuits.html