re: impacts of LNG regasification

Posted by Dorrie on August 19, 2008, 6:25 pm, in reply to "Article on Manzanillo Power Plant..."
189.162.24.29

While getting rid of the air pollution coming from the thermal plant is something to celebrate, if it actually happens, it will come at a big cost. For starters go to www.redmanglar.org/redmanglar.php?c=476 (this works, I just tried it) There's an article about the bird populations depending on Laguna de Cuyutlan, and on the right hand margin a PDF to click which brings up an article written in 2004 about shorebird inventories. This lagoon is one of the most important places on the west coast of the continent for migratory birds. Also, in today's news at http//:news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7569851.stm you'll see a report about indigenous people of Peru blocking development of gas and oil infrastructure in the Amazon. This is where the natural gas will come from that is going to Manzanillo. So the cost of the natural gas includes abrogation of native peoples' human rights, and damage to the ecology in the Amazon basin, as well as destruction of mangoves, bird breeding areas, tortuga and cocodrillo nurseries. The Peruvian government is selling natural gas cheap to Mexico, while Pemex burns off the natural gas released from the oil wells! Mexico has not spent any money, even in these profitable times for oil, on developing gasification plants. (in fact Pemex has been processing less oil as time goes by, because profits go to shore up the economy rather than improve Pemex's capacity.) So, in the longterm there are no ecological gains: Pemex has no reason to stop burning off it's own natural gas if corrupt states like Peru and Nigeria are selling it LNG(liquified natural gas) cheap. (On the east coast Pemex has a regasification plant which processes LNG from Africa, mostly Nigeria.) Pemex has pipelines all over the country, but not gas refineries; however it is paying $480 million to transnationals to build a regasification plant in a protected area near Manzanillo. We all know this area is subject to earthquakes, tidal waves and so on. In California, in similar circumstances, NO LNG facilities have been permitted: not anywhere. I don't think there has been a public process in Manzanillo addressing health and safety concerns, but I could be wrong. There is an organization in Colima, Biosiguana, which is fighting this development, and taking the government of Colima to court for breaking federal environmental laws. You can contact them at Bios_iguana@hotmail.com for more info. Gee, don't things get complicated?

Be sure to visit www.lamanzanilla.info