Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
04SANTODOMINGO2607
2004-04-29 16:54:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Santo Domingo
Cable title:  

ROCK ASH SHIPMENTS FROM PUERTO RICO TO DOMINICAN

Tags:  BEXP SENV DR ETRD EWWT EIND 
pdf how-to read a cable
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 SANTO DOMINGO 002607 

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: BEXP SENV DR ETRD EWWT EIND
SUBJECT: ROCK ASH SHIPMENTS FROM PUERTO RICO TO DOMINICAN
REPUBLIC STIR PUBLIC RELATIONS CONTROVERSY FOR U.S. FIRM


UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 SANTO DOMINGO 002607

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: BEXP SENV DR ETRD EWWT EIND
SUBJECT: ROCK ASH SHIPMENTS FROM PUERTO RICO TO DOMINICAN
REPUBLIC STIR PUBLIC RELATIONS CONTROVERSY FOR U.S. FIRM



1. (SBU) SUMMARY: A controversy over rock ash shipments
from a Puerto Rico power plant owned by U.S.-based energy
company AES has become a topic of local comment. The
Dominican Environment Secretariat confirms that the local
firm that imported the product for construction in the north
obtained all required permits and the material is an
environmentally safe, commercial product. The press has
featured assertions from the political opposition and others
that the product is toxic waste -- an erroneous result leaked
by the technical lab of a local university. End summary.


2. (U) A controversy over shipments of rock ash from a
Puerto Rico power plant has become a topic of local comment.
Rock ash is a coal combustion product (CCP) or by-product
from burning coal in coal-fired power plants, such as the AES
power plant in Puerto Rico. CCPs are used for making cement,
building roads, backfilling, and even building and consumer
products.


3. (SBU) AES Puerto Rico Plant Manager Al Dyer, his
associate Neil Watlington, and local AES President Julian
Nebreda briefed Charge and emboffs April 21 on the rock ash
shipments. The company representatives said that AES Puerto
Rico had contracted Florida-based Silverspot Corporation to
remove the rock ash. Silverspot, in turn, established a
Dominican company to further process the rock ash and
distribute it to commercial end-users in the Dominican
Republic or the United States. The company had distributed
rock ash to the Port of Manzanillo for parking lot
construction and to the Port of Samana. Both are located on
the north coast of the country. Silverspot, AES and the
Secretariat of Environment have confirmed to emboffs that

SIPDIS
Silverspot obtained the necessary permits.


4. (SBU) Charge told the AES representatives that the
embassy stood ready to assist in every way possible, as it
has with energy payment issues, but advised that the company
needed to consider carefully the public relations aspect of
the rock ash shipments and the potential impact of negative
press on the company's Dominican energy interests (AES

operates the regional power distribution company EDESTE and
owns a generating plant).


5. (SBU) After local press began reporting in late March
that rock ash from the United States was being "dumped" in
the Dominican Republic, a local university tested the product
and announced that it contained unsafe levels of heavy metals
and other toxins. The press and internet sites associated
the rock ash with birth defects and dead whales on Dominican
beaches, and alleged that the United States had violated the
United Nations Environment Programme's Basel Convention on
the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous
Wastes.Editorials included sensational captions, such as
"Garbage Dump of the Caribbean." The Dominican Senate
considered a resolution calling for the re-export of the
material to Puerto Rico.


6. (SBU) On April 15, Secretary of the Environment and
Natural Resources, Frank Moya Pons, told Embassy officers
that, while he awaits the results of a full investigation he
commissioned from the Environmental Prosecutor, an EPA
finding on the laboratory analysis of rock ash would add
credibility to his agency's efforts to make an impartial,
science-based decision. He said he would also welcome
embassy efforts to publicize EPA's findings. Embassy has
contacted EPA and will follow up with a formal request for
assistance with sample analysis.


7. (SBU) On April 16, Econoff met with Sub Secretary of the
Environment Rene Ledesma, who had issued the environmental
permits to import the substance. Ledesma acknowledged the
public relations brouhaha but presented a notebook of
documents defending his decision. His findings appeared to
be supported by information from the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, indicating that the Dominican university
study had used flawed methodology and that the product was
environmentally friendly. Ledesma commented that the
university had suspended the employee who had "leaked" the
flawed study.


8. (SBU) Ledesma said that a PRD senator from Samana who was
from a faction of the party opposed to Mejia had pursued the
issue for political reasons. Ledesma also speculated that
local clinker suppliers were objecting to the importation of
rock ashfor protectionist reasons .


7. (SBU) Econoff spoke with a leading whale expert and
environmentalist residing in Samana, raising the issue of a
dead whale recently washed ashore on the north coast. She
said that the studies she had seen on the rock ash showed
safe levels of metals and other substances and that from her
observations, there was no adverse environmental impact from
the shipments. She said that coastal contamination could not
have been the cause of the whale's death, since it was a
"deep-water whale," not one of the humpbacks that migrates
each year to shallow Dominican waters.


8. (SBU) Silverspot owner Roger Fina told Embassy's
Commercial Counselor April 20 that he was in the Dominican
Republic in response to a subpoena and that he wanted to
resolve the misunderstandings over the rock ash shipments.
He provided much of the same information concerning the
studies and indicated he would be meeting with GODR
officials.


9. (SBU) In response to a question from university students
on April 20 President Mejia commented that the
environmentalists complaining about the shipments had
exaggerated and were "blatherers who had an opinion on
everything." However, he added that rock ash was not "such a
good thing" and that his Environmental Secretariat should not
have permitted it to enter the country. If it provided
toxic, it should be immediately sent back to Puerto Rico.

--------------
COMMENT
--------------


10. (SBU) This public relations scandal has elements of
politics, commercial protectionism, and happy scandal
mongering. Tere has been so much negative press that AES and
Silverspot have little chance of fully informing and changing
public opinion, even with scientific evidence. The GODR may
well let matters lie, depending on how this continues to play
out in the media. The firms involved have stopped shipments
for now and intend to counter the toxicity issues with
independent studies followed by a public message. AES
previously received negative publicity over rock ash
shipments, but the similar incident last year faded from the
press after a couple of days. The more immediate problems of
AES concern payments due from the GODR and other
participants in the energy sector.




HERTELL