<
https://dialogue.earth/en/energy/in-chile-a-sacrifice-zone-waits-on-a-better-future/>
"In 2019, Chile pledged to close all of its coal-fired power plants by 2040, a
deadline that its government has in recent years sought to bring forward to
before 2030. So far, eight of 28 plants have closed, while another 12 are set
to shutter before the end of 2025. But for the remaining eight facilities, no
closure date has yet been announced – including for those at Guacolda, the
country’s largest coal-fired power complex.
Guacolda, which hosts five coal-fired power plants with a combined capacity of
764 megawatts, is located in Huasco, a port city in the northern province of
the same name, part of the arid Atacama region. Huasco is currently home to
over 11,000 people who primarily make their living in fishing and agriculture.
The large industrial zone in which Guacolda sits also features a coal-fired
iron ore pellet plant, operated by mining firm Compañía Minera del Pacífico
(CMP). For decades, this facility dumped its tailings – the residues from the
grinding and processing of ores to extract valuable iron concentrates – into
the nearby sea. This practice was only brought to an end last year, with the
waste now being disposed of on a large area of land just south of the plant.
It is because of the high levels of pollution from these industries that Huasco
has come to be considered one of Chile’s “sacrifice zones”, a term used for
areas of concentrated industrial activity, where environmental harms have often
brought poor health and economic impacts for local residents."
Via
Fix the News:
https://fixthenews.com/273-cathedral-thinking/
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
