Here is the latest developments in the #Damietta crisis today following
yesterday developments :
- The protesters are still having a sit in demanding the immediate closures of MOPCO factory along other pollutant factories in the city especially after the murder of young Islam Abdullah.
- Here is the complete gallery of photos form MB activist Amar Radwan showing dead fish in a lake near the factories , you can contact him easily through Facebook. You must know that he uploaded that set of photos on November 14th.
- Canadian Methanex has shut down its factory in Damietta for security reasons, the Methanex Egypt factory was among the factories the protesters demanded to be closed and it was also among the factories the public scientific committee demanded to comply with environmental standards.
- One of the reasons why the traffic down town Cairo was so terrible today was the fact there were several protests and sit ins in front of the cabinet including a small protest for a group from MOPCO workers protesting the temporary closure of the factory in an attempt to win a sympathy from the public opinion. Of course today everybody was cursing Cairo traffic.
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- The PR machines of the factories in Damietta port area are currently facing a nightmare after what financial Al Mal newspaper has published today excerpts from the report of the public scientific committee about the environmental impacts of those factories the people now are demanding their closures.
- Here are parts of what is mentioned in the report “Not all of it”:
- The committee found out that SEGAS LNG factory in the free zone gets rid from its water wastes without treatment directly to the sea shore, the water wastes samples taken are not complying with the standards of the environmental laws in Egypt. There is no unit to measure the hydro carbonic pollutants resulted from the factory
- The committee found that METHANEX factory gets rid from its water wastes also directly to the sea , it found out that these wastes are not complying with the economic standards. The factory did not show the committee how it gets rid from solid wastes.
- The committee found disasters in MOPCO , non compliance with environmental laws everywhere.
- According to the committee the marine environment in the area was dying.
Thanks for Minoushy here are scans for the report in Arabic.
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| Al Mal financial newspaper |
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| Al Mal financial newspaper |
Again before anyone speaks and lectures me on how the Egyptian revolution is hurting our Egyptian economy and forgets the fact that the pollutant factories are no longer welcomed in the civilized countries. Do not lecture me on the employment benefit because the damage these factories are causing if they do not respect environmental laws and standards in the country are great on the short and long range. It is enough the environmental damage in this country caused in the past century , it is enough what happened to a town like Helwan.
The protesters are not tree huggers as someone described them in the comments of this blog , these protesters are normal Egyptians who fed up for months and years from pollution.
And again Damietta is not a bloody poor governorate nor its people are lazy , in fact if all Egyptians half active and wise as the people of Damietta.
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I must say I've spent the last 20 years cleaning up hazardous waste. This is not happening only there in Egypt but in the U.S., Canada, China, South America and Africa. I've watched as environmental laws have been weakened and even ignored all in the name of profit. It has become worse in just the last ten years. But what amazes me is that the people who benefit the most from these factories will suffer the consequences along with the people in the area and think nothing about it.
ReplyDeleteحسبي الله و نعم الوكيل
ReplyDeletehttp://www.alsadiqa.com
People, you Have nö idea of what you are Talking about. This same factory has been built in residential areas in Alexandria 30 years ago. In DMietta there are no home in the are for several kilometers. Not only that, but I would suggest that before you start protesting about pullution, you should clean the garbage from your streets. It is really terrible there, and gives no credibility. Or was it the foreign companies too that throw their rubbish on your streets? Yes blame them for that too. Why not?
ReplyDeleteI absolutely concur with Anonymous 11/16/2011 03:23:00 PM - that hype is totally irresponsible towards the imminent needs of the people: work.
ReplyDeleteThe entire country is polluted from garbage and hazardous waste. It is crazy to start shutting down workplaces for some stupid dead fish. Those tree huggers have lost all sense of reality and it is no surprise that the revolution is losing the support from people at large.
@Anonymous 8:32: I'll bet you aren't forced to live next to a factory that is poisoning you and your family and your nation's water supply. You seem to be suggesting that people and the environment be sacrificed for corporate profits.
ReplyDeleteIf so, I'd suggest that you go live there and put your life and health where your mouth is -- MOPCO and the like surely are looking for individuals just like you.
Thank you Zeinobia. Even though all Egypt is polluted, it does not mean that this should continue and be accepted forever. It's time, Egypt adopts international standards and respects its own laws - no matter if foreigners or Egyptians are the origin of the damage. It's a start at least. Besides, it is well known that Western companies produce in developing countries without following Western (environmental and health) standards. Being a Westerner, I am ashamed about this.
ReplyDeleteThe anonymous' would think differently if it was them or their children coming down with some mysterious illness or cancer. I'd bet that the workers in that plant are not even protected. Trust me I've worked in worse places but only to correct what the company wouldn't because they were too cheap. Judging by the photos you've put in the latest post it doesn't look as if their maintenance is very good. What people fail to see is that what we put into the environment gets to be part of our food chain. So to the anons I say "we have plenty of contaminated water over here". Care to drink it? I thought not.
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