Ask India To Replace Neurotoxin Mercury Laden Coal With LNG Or OTEC In Trincomalee
By Chris Dharmakirti –March 25, 2016
Chris Dharmakirti
The biggest health hazard Sri Lanka faces from the existing Chinese coal power plant in Norochcholai and the proposed two new coal power plants in Trincomalee, (Japan and India) is the neurotoxin Mercury!
Mercury is highly volatile and a neurotoxin. Coal power stations are responsible for the highest amount of mercury emissions worldwide. They emit the poisonous metal, also known as quicksilver, into the atmosphere and it can eventually make its way into the food chain.
When digging for information about how Sri Lanka came to greenlight two more coal power plants last month, despite the protests against them, I was appalled to discover that we had not considered LNG gas as an alternative suggestion to India, and it is still not too late to make that switch, as the power plant is yet to be built.
Nirupama Roa, the former Indian High Commissioner in Sri Lanka wanted a diplomatic win during her tenure in Colombo and the result was the Sampur Coal Power Plant. One could easily forgive her at the time, as there was a move to balance the Chinese coal power plant in Sri Lanka, that was located in the west coast of Sri Lanka, directly in line of sight ..wind path of south India.
The cost of that decision was really not taken in to consideration as the Government of the day thought that Trincomalee was the ideal location to unload coal, after having built a mini harbor in Norochcholai to unload coal during the narrow 6 month window offshore, causing much coal spillage and poisoning of our fish stocks and also one of the most sought after tourism areas in the country.
