Industrial refuse deposited in Samana and Monte Cristi provinces imported from the AES coal power generator in Puerto Rico is not toxic, according to the Environment Ministry?s verdict, based on studies carried out at the state university, the Instituto Tecnologico de Santo Domingo (INTEC) and labs in Puerto Rico, US and Spain on the ministry?s request. The material known as rockash here is known as flyash abroad.
Attorney General of the Environment Ministry Jose Antonio Trinidad Sena recommended that the material be ?conditioned,? with the costs for doing so charged to the companies responsible for bringing the material to Samana (Multigestiones Valenza, S.A.), and to Manzanillo, Monte Cristi (Trans Dominicana de Desarrollo, S.A.). The attorney general said the companies committed a ?quasi-environmental crime? by handling the substance somewhat carelessly. A penalty of 1,500 times the minimum salary is to be levied on them for not following the handling recommendations made by the environment authority that had authorized the import of the material. Trinidad said that the material was to be used for the purposes for which it was imported, and according to the technical specifications required by the law. Regarding the import of more material, he said the decision is up to the Environment Ministry. Dominican law prohibits importing waste material.