Energy

Colón residents reject thermoelectric plant

Opponents argue that emissions will be harmful to human health and the environment.

la prensa

Unconvinced: At a public forum in Colón, residents expressed their opposition to a thermoelectric project.1003894

The installation of a thermoelectric plant on Isla Telfer, in the district of Cristóbal, in Colón, has generated unease among residents there and in nearby Cativá. The plant would be located 500 meters from a water treatment plant and 1000 meters from one of the largest poor neighborhoods in Colón.

Yesterday students and teachers from the Escuela Bilingüe Árabe Panameña marched to the provincial governor's office to express their disapproval of the project.

The company Termoeléctrica Monte Esperanza Power Company has held several forums to explain to the community and to the Consejo Municipal de Colón the advantages of installing a thermoelectric plant based on solid fuel technology at the selected site, but they have not been able to convince the people of Colón.

Paul York, the promoter of the $500 million project, said "emissions from the plant will be well below acceptable levels for human health and the environment, and well below the typical emissions generated by plants based on coal technology. "

Hector Rodríguez, the project manager, said the Panamanian government looked to them to invest in the project, but if it didn't like their presentation, they would take the project to another country in Latin America. There will be another public forum in Colón on April 11.

Colón resident Sayori Archibold argues that the project will have adverse effects on the health of the community. "There will be pollution even though they use filters," he explained.

Deputy mayor of the Cristóbal district Mercedes Aciego, historian Jorge Luis Macías and ecologist Luciano Hernandez from the Centro Regional Universitario de Colón have also expressed their disapproval of the project. So has Leopoldo Benedetti, a legislator from the province of Colón. Macías commented that "They are always selling development megaprojects in Colón with the promise of creating jobs that have been a failure in the end.

The project was submitted to the Autoridad Nacional del Ambiente (Anam) on September 22, 2007 for an evaluation of its environmental impact. Yirley Mena, who heads the environmental quality department at Anam, said the project is in the technical evaluation stage. Once that has been completed, he said, Anam's main office in Panama will decide whether to approve or reject the project.

Two weeks ago the Consejo Municipal and the mayor of Colón, Antonio Latiff, signed a resolution rejecting the project, and then a municipal agreement, believing that the work will affect the health of residents. "There is no progress but toward pollution," said Jaime Luna, who works on the Consejo Municipal's environmental committee.Pedro Maclao Pinzón, a human rights coordinator in Colón, believes that the project offers promise for development, but it must be located in a non-urban area.