Toxic Waste in Samana - Whale population affected

dr1.com:
According to Espino, five barges unloaded the residue from an AES power plant in Puerto Rico and the plan was to import over 8 million tons of the waste matter in Puerto Duarte, Arroyo Barril, Samana.
Reporters from Hoy newspaper talked to Rafael Veloz, the director of the environmental protection department at the Environment Ministry. He denied that the waste was sewage sludge, saying it was rather ?rockash,? which does not cause contamination.

this material ist toxic, why else they does not leav that material in puerto rico?? to move it hundreds of kilometers by ship is not cheap!!

100% it will change the whole bay of samana.
100% the whale population will be affected!
100% current or next generation of peoples will have serious problems with health if that material goes into the ground and into the water!!!!

academy of sciences calls military to close area

http://www.diariolibre.com/(j5omb0q5b1ydhg3kt2ev1q55)/aspx/article.aspx?id=8298

Santo Domingo. Si las autoridades tienen algo que hacer en estos momentos frente al desastre ecol?gico que se ha producido en Saman?, es convocar al Consejo Nacional de Emergencia (COE) para que se traslade al lugar y tome las medidas de rigor.

La afirmaci?n es de Luis Carvajal, del equipo ambiental de la Academia de Ciencias, quien asegura que se debe militarizar la zona para evitar que la gente siga en contacto con el material t?xico lanzado en las costas de Arroyo Barril.

Padres de los ni?os enfermos comienzan a preocuparse por la situaci?n y seg?n trascendi? ayer, varios de los infantes ser?n trasladados a la capital para hacerles an?lisis de sangre.

Gran da?o

Carvajal asegura que el da?o ecol?gico es uno de los m?s graves en la historia ambiental del pa?s y que quienes otorgaron el permiso para hacer del lugar un vertedero de deshechos contaminantes, pueden ser sometidos a la justicia por violaci?n al C?digo Penal, seg?n establece el art?culo 183 de la ley 64-00.

Ayer sali? hacia Saman? en helic?ptero una comisi?n del Senado y de la UASD, dirigidos por Eleuterio Mart?nez, pero no aterriz? debido al mal tiempo.

Urgente

1. Educar la poblaci?n para que no se acerque al lugar. 2. Cerco militar en el lugar para evitar contacto. 3 Humedecer o cubrir con lonas los deshechos. 4. establecer puntos de monitoreos en los acu?feros cercanos. 5. Inventariar de inmediatos todos los alimentos comestibles crudos, estableciendo una veda para su consumo.

yes, we're in contact with greenpeace

we're also connecting swiss and german tourism, so that pression to the government grows!

last news:
60 families contaminated, 2 children in bad conditions in hospital...

Los desechos s?lidos lanzados en el puerto Duarte de esta comunidad han causado da?os a la salud de unas 60 familias y ya dos ni?os de uno y tres a?os fueron sacados graves e internados en el centro Hisp?nico de la carretera de Mendoza, de Santo Domingo Oeste.
http://www.elnacional.com.do/(2yrqyne0p2ivtwm133meiy45)/aspx/frontpage.aspx

the toxic material: dioxin-laden soot, sulfur dioxide
...AES plant emits sulfur dioxide, which causes asthma, emphysema and lung hemorrhages; as well as almost 5,000 kilogrammes of dioxin-laden soot a day..."

dioxin is:
- 10'000 times more dangerous as cyanid!
- mimilar to agent-orange
http://archiv.greenpeace.de/GP_DOK_3P/CHLOR/SEITEN/C03HI06B.HTM

produced in: Guayama, Puerto Rico
the company: AES Corporation
http://www.aes.com/index.asp
http://www.corporate-ir.net/ireye/ir_site.zhtml?ticker=AES&script=2100

in puerto rico:
http://www.ahbeck.com/eng/Projects/AES_Guayama.htm

more links about the company:
http://www.moles.org/ProjectUnderground/drillbits/980821/98082103.html

http://www.google.ch/search?q=cache.../may99/99-1855.01a+aes+Guayama&hl=de&ie=UTF-8

http://www.foe.org/camps/intl/worldbank/ifcreport/section4.htm

Largest Independent Power Producer Also Largest IFC Borrower

AES (Applied Energy Services Corporation) is the largest independent power producer in the world, with assets of $11 billion and 40,000 MW of electricity generation40 It astutely created and continues to maintain a progressive, "green" image, which has been played up by the media. Press articles invariably mention AES's non-hierarchical, grassroots structure, and focus upon the fact that its co-founder, Roger Sant, is the current chair of the board of World Wildlife Fund USA.

The reality, however, is somewhat different from the image AES portrays. AES has a problematic record. It has been accused of corruption and of failing to fulfill its investment obligations in Argentina41 and Uganda.42 Moreover, it has opposed trade unions in countries like Hungary and is regarded as an anti-union company in the U.S. and Europe.43 AES is the same company that falsified reports and misled the EPA in 1992 regarding Shady Point, a 320 MW coal-fired plant in Oklahoma.44 It is involved in several environmentally controversial projects that are actively opposed by local communities, like the Guayama Coal Plant in Puerto Rico.45 On occasion AES has taken to suing the local community, as in the case of Bucksport, Maine, where AES sued the town for opposing the Harriman Cove Project, a coal-fired power plant.46 This happened despite AES's earlier assurances that it would leave if unwanted by the community. In sharp contrast with its green image, AES recently declined to endorse the CERES (Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies) principles, corporate environmental responsibility guidelines that more than 50 companies have endorsed.47

Despite these problems with its corporate conduct, AES remains a favorite of the World Bank Group. In an interview about the Bujagali Hydropower Project in Uganda, AES CEO. Dennis Bakke claimed "we (AES) are the biggest private users of World Bank money through IFC. They (IFC) trust AES a lot and are very keen for us to do this."48

A closer study does indeed show a close a relationship. IFC has approved or is in the process of considering seven major AES projects, three of which were approved within this last year. Taken together, these projects total nearly one billion dollars of financial assistance from IFC to AES.49