2024-02-13 18:21:12
Published on: 02/13/2024 – 7:21 p.m. Modified on: 02/13/2024 – 7:19 p.m.
5 mn
The concept, which describes an area whose quality of life and environment have been lastingly affected by industrial activity, was included in a note from the Chilean Parliament in July 2022.
If the country, with its significant solar and wind resources, launched an ambitious plan in 2019 intended to close its 28 coal-fired units by 2040 – including the eight in Mejillones -, it must also achieve restoration of areas affected for years.
“Chile’s debt and the impacts of coal-fired electricity production are considerable in the context of the climate crisis, but also because of the impacts it has on sacrifice zones,” notes Estefania Gonzalez, director campaign deputy for Greenpeace Andino (Argentina, Chile and Colombia).
The Mejillones coal-fired power plant, in the Antofagasta region, Chile, January 25, 2024 © RODRIGO ARANGUA / AFP
Residents should not “be left without any protection because a company arrives, exploits a certain territory, then leaves”, she believes, pleading for a “just transition” which not only allows abandoning fossil fuels, but also to “reconvert these territories, repair them and allow the activities that have been affected to recover”.
Cancer stade 4
On the pier of the fishing port of the town of 13,000 inhabitants located in the middle of the Atacama Desert, 1,400 km from the capital Santiago, José Gonzalez, 58, talks regarding his stage 4 cancer, a black cap on his head to protect himself of the overwhelming sun.
Below, a group of sea lions wait for the remains of fish that a local fisherman is regarding to throw to them, attracting a few onlookers.
The fishermen’s cove in Mejillones, in the Antofagasta region, on January 25, 2024 in Chile © RODRIGO ARANGUA / AFP
“The pollution is immense,” assures this port agent currently on sick leave, pointing to the string of companies linked to the chemical industry and other coal-fired power plants which have flourished along the vast Pacific bay.
However, it is not easy to demonstrate in practice for people living in contaminated areas a possible link with the cancer from which they suffer.
“History repeats itself” differently, underlines the surgeon, listing lead contamination or asbestos. “It would still be more logical,” he judges.
Burning coal releases many harmful chemicals into the air. But if for some time the installation of filters has made it possible to reduce them, there is still “pollution because the coal parks are open”, notes municipal councilor Manuel Monardes Rojas.
Sea lions on the beach of Fisherman’s Cove in Mejillones, in the Antofagasta region, on January 25, 2024 in Chile © RODRIGO ARANGUA / AFP
However, he emphasizes the distance between the industrial zone and the city and its beach, a “clean zone”, he assures. “Mejillones is now focusing on tourism,” he argues.
“No more life”
In this southern summer in Chile, only a handful of bathers brave the cold waters of the bay, while a few rare summer visitors lounge under straw parasols.
For José Sanchez, secretary of the Mejillones artisanal fishermen’s union, the sector is in dire straits.
Mejillones beach, in the Antofagasta region, on January 25, 2024 in Chile © RODRIGO ARANGUA / AFP
“The seabed is polluted, there are fewer species, fewer molluscs,” he says, assuring that of the 300 fishermen of the past, only half remain today.
“The bay is dead,” he curses, a bob resting on his graying mid-length hair.
A study carried out in 2019 and financed by the Antofagasta region showed the significant presence of heavy metals and organic matter in the bay due to discharges of industrial waste, but also wastewater.
If determining the cause of cancers among the population may take years, forcing companies to repair the environmental damage of their installations does not appear to be easy either.
The oldest coal-fired units “have no legally binding obligation to take responsibility for the environmental consequences” of their activities, noted Chilean Energy Minister Diego Pardow during a recent meeting with the French press in Santiago.
Mejillones beach, in the Antofagasta region, on January 25, 2024 in Chile © RODRIGO ARANGUA / AFP
“That’s part of the challenge we face today. It’s not just regarding turning off a switch, but taking care of everything that that entails,” he adds.
1707853800
#Chile #sacrifice #zones #put #test #energy #transition