Looking out over its desolate shores, it is hard to believe the
town of Huasco was until relatively recently a bustling fishing port, where
dozens of colourful boats proudly lined the docks. Today would seem the perfect
day for fishing. The sea is calm and the weather hot, yet there are no
fishermen in sight, and a solitary industrial cargo ship dominates the
otherwise empty waters.
The absence of fishermen here has a simple explanation;
there are no longer any fish in the sea. On a mound a few hundred yards away a
thick plume of white smoke rising from the chimney of an enormous
thermoelectric power plant offers a clue as to what became of the town’s
fishing industry. Just behind it, the entry gates to the vast dumping grounds
of an iron refinery display the words “Look after the flora and fauna.” A
casual inspection of the surrounding area suggests there is little nature left
to protect.
The inhabitants of northern Chile’s Huasco province describe
themselves as living in a “sacrificial zone.” Stretching across a fertile valley,
the region was once renowned for its flowing river, providing a green oasis and
agricultural hub at the extreme south of Chile’s Atacama Desert. But over the
last two decades the valley has become littered with numerous industrial projects
the malign environmental impact of which is impossible to quantify.
A gold mine in a nearby glacier has caused the river to dry
up and olive crops to diminish. A giant pig slaughter house is poisoning the
air of the nearby village of Freirina, forcing villagers to live with the
constant foul stench. Yet many of the 8000 residents in Huasco town believe
they face an even greater challenge than that of defending their natural
habitat.
“Everybody here knows somebody close to them who has
cancer,” Soledad Fuentealba tells me, “Seeing many of our friends and
neighbours die young has driven us to take action.”
As a founding member of the campaigning group SOS Huasco and
mother of two teenage daughters, Fuentealba is primarily concerned with the health
effects of pollution from the town’s neighbouring Guacolda power plant, 50% of
which is owned by US corporation AES. Since the first of its four units was
constructed in 1995, Guacolda has been burning petroleum coke (petcoke) - a
substance which is banned in much of the world because of the hazardous
chemicals it releases into the air, and which was only legalised in Chile after
the plant was caught using it illegally in 2001.
According to Fuentealba, the town’s health has been deteriorating
ever since. Down the road, her neighbour Blanca Diaz Silva tells me she believes
the pollution may be to blame for her 19 year old son’s cancer. Shortly after
starting secondary school, Waldo, who also suffers from severe learning
difficulties, was diagnosed with testicular cancer and has been receiving
treatment in Santiago ever since. “Sometimes he asks me ‘mum, why me? What have
I done to deserve this?’”, sobs Silva, “We have to find out who is responsible
for this and hold them to account.”
Doctor Javier Castro, a GP at Huasco hospital, says stories
like Silva’s are disturbingly common. “The hospital ward for terminally ill
patients is unusually busy. Incidences of cancer are worryingly high as are
respiratory problems,” he laments.
The evidence linking Huasco’s air pollution to health
problems is not merely anecdotal. In 2005 the University of Chile conducted a
study into the potential health effects of exposure to petcoke pollution. The
study took urine samples from over 50 of Huasco’s schoolchildren (including one
of Fuentealba’s two teenage daughters). It found, among other discrepancies,
that they contained far higher levels of nickel, a known carcinogen, compared
with samples from children who had not been exposed to petcoke pollution. The
following year a second study from the same university revealed Huasco’s mortality
rates for women between the ages of 20 and 44 were 3.5 times higher than the
national average.
Yet successive governments have continued to approve
projects which could further damage the region’s environment. In 2008, Spanish
energy giant Endesa revealed plans to build a 750 Megawatt thermoelectric power
plant, Punta Alcalde, just 13 km from Huasco town. Following a tortuous battle
during which enraged activists engaged in talks with government ministers,
Endesa’s permit was finally denied in July when the Commission for
Environmental Evaluation of the Atacama Region ruled the plant did not comply
with air pollution requirements. Then, last month, a ministerial committee
overturned that decision after Endesa promised to install special filters
designed to curb the release of toxic gases.
The news did not go down well in Huasco where hundreds of
protesters picketed roads leading to the town and clashed with police who used
tear gas and water cannons to disperse the dissenters. Similar scenes were observed
in Freirina following a successful appeal by Chilean food manufacturer
Agrosuper against a decision to shut down a pig farm which had not complied
with health regulations.
Four days later I attended a meeting with around 40 of the
region’s most committed activists in a small, derelict bungalow on the
outskirts of Freirina. The mood at the gathering was intense as one by one
activists from both of the affected towns stood up to speak of their solidarity
with each other and unwavering commitment to protect their communities.
Afterwards I spoke to Andrea Cisternas, the chief spokeswoman
of the Huasco Valley socio-environmental movement, who described the negative
impact of the projects. “They talk about creating jobs which is true, but more
than anything they are making our communities become dependent on them for
work. This is a region in which large corporations have imposed their projects
on us at the expense of our culture, health and daily lives.”
Meanwhile Endesa has refused to back down, insisting that
the proposed plant will have no effect on Huasco’s environment, or the health
of its people. But this position has been challenged by several environmental
organisations including the world’s leading ocean conservation group, Oceana,
who have opposed the government’s decision to approve Punta Alcalde, and launched
an online campaign to draw attention to the region’s pre-existing environmental
problems. A report on their website sums up the consequences of the pollution: “…these
plants have been pumping warm water and pollutants into the oceans, destroying
the local ecosystems and raising mercury levels in fish. On
land, toxic clouds and heavy-metal contamination are sickening the local
populations.”
Huasco’s residents know they face an uncertain future. Last
week an appeal was launched against the government’s decision to approve Punta
Alcalde. Whatever the outcome, the resilience of those leading the movement will
be hard to stifle. In December Agrosuper was forced into announcing the closure
of its pig farm following the uprising in Freirina, and many in Huasco believe
there is simply too much at risk to give up their battle any time soon.
“Our fight has ceased to be an environmental campaign”, says
Soledad Fuentealba, “now we are fighting for our lives.”
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