The
Trinidad Guardian
Port
Spain
Petroleumworld.com
03 19 06
Alcoa
submitted a certificate of environmental clearance (CEC) to
the Environmental Management Agency for its proposed 341,000
metric tonne per year Chatham aluminium smelter last Thursday.
Highlights
of the CEC application, which was signed by Alcoa executive
Randy Overbey and local attorney Steve Myers, include:
The total
proposed investment in the smelter, which will be 100 per cent
Alcoa-owned, will be about US$1.5 billion ($9 billion);
Construction
is intended to begin in 2007 with production start date between
late 2008 and early 2009;
The ownership
of the 600 hectare land allocated for the Chatham industrial
estate will remain with the National Energy Corporation. Only
approximately 200 hectares of this total 600 hectares will be
cleared for the smelter and associated facilities.
Only 200
hectares (494 acres) of the total estate will be leased to Alcoa
and cleared for the construction and operation of the aluminium
smelter and associated facilities; It will be left as natural
vegetation or utilised for such purposes as conservation, advanced
agriculture/horticulture, ecological education.
The remaining
400 hectares (988 acres) will be developed in keeping with the
“smelter in the park” concept after consultation
with appropriate government agencies and neighbouring communities.
It will be left as natural vegetation or utilised for such purposes
as conservation, advanced agriculture/horticulture, ecological
education or beekeeping;
Alcoa proposes
to construct a 341,000 mt (approximate) aluminium smelter, anode
production facilities, and intermediate/downstream fabricating
facility.
The aluminium
smelter will utilise state-of-the-art air emission control systems,
institute processes to reduce/eliminate process wastewater discharges
and implement programmes to reduce/recycle/minimise solid waste
generation and disposal. Ambient air quality will be monitored
at site boundaries and publicly reported.
For fluoride
emissions, the level will be three times more stringent than
the current US standard. Exposures will be controlled to levels
that are safe for employee and community health and the environment.
A waste
stream of spent potlining (SPL), from the aluminium smelting
process, will be generated from about the fifth year of operation.
It will not be landfilled in T&T. It will be reused/recycled
utilising the best available technology at that time.
In the absence
of a constructive process for recycling in T&T, spent potlining
will be shipped out of the country for reprocessing elsewhere.
A natural
gas fired power facility with the capacity to continuously supply
approximately 580 MW of electricity to the smelting facility
will also be constructed.
Separate
CEC applications will be submitted for a port facility and power
station which may require coastline stabilisation/alteration.
