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Clean
Air Plan for Santiago Fails |
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By Gustavo González*
According
to business leaders, the year's first declaration of "pre-emergency"
for air pollution meant 3.9 million dollars in losses. They urge
President Bachelet to take action.
SANTIAGO - The failure of the plan proposed
in 2000 to clean up the air in the Chilean capital, home to five
million people, is one of the biggest challenges facing new President
Michelle Bachelet, who took office in March.
So far in 2006, Santiago has seen one day of environmental "pre-emergency"
and several days with alerts issued in response to increased air
pollution, which result in restrictions on vehicle circulation and
shut-downs of boilers and other sources of emissions, and even bans
on outdoor sports activities at schools.
The critical conditions brought by the climate phenomenon known
as La Niña, with scant rain and low temperatures, brought to the
fore the environmental vulnerability of the capital, as warned by
at least two reports from international auditors, which pointed
to shortfalls in many of the measures of the Atmospheric Decontamination
and Prevention Plan (PPDA) pledged in 2000.
According to sources in the business sector, the pre-emergency declared
on Friday, May 12, resulted in economic losses of 3.9 million dollars,
due to the shutdown of 596 factories and 320,000 vehicles, including
120,000 cars with "green seals", which run on unleaded gasoline.
Businesses complain "about the impact on their pockets, but undoubtedly
the pre-emergency status means savings and benefits in health,"
says Sonia Garrido, whose five-year-old son has respiratory problems
and requires medical attention on days of higher air pollution.
Children and the elderly are most at risk in regards to poor air
quality in Santiago. The capital's location in a broad valley surrounded
by mountains and the lack of winds makes it one of the most polluted
cities in Latin America, alongside Sao Paulo and Mexico City.
The environmental "pre-crisis" led Metropolitan Region Mayor Víctor
Barrueto to convene a meeting of experts, who presented nine recommendations
for a better registry of contaminants and more rigorous regulation
of diesel fuel quality.
Barrueto himself announced six additional measures to bring the
PPDA up to date, although the authorities had to acknowledge simultaneously
a four-month delay in the Trans-Santiago Plan to streamline public
transportation, which was to be fully implemented in October of
this year, but is now put off until early 2007.
When it comes to who to blame, fingers are pointed at the previous
administration, of President Ricardo Lagos (2000-2006), which is
accused of failing to provide sufficient funding for the PPDA through
the National Environmental Commission. But many of its measures
were delayed in implementation by the archaic norms of the Comptroller
General of the Republic.
The environmental crisis is consequence of "the lack of political
will, given that many of the plan's measures were violated systematically
by the government authorities themselves," Luis Mariano Rendón,
coordinator of the non-governmental organization Acción Ecológica,
told Tierramérica.
Real estate speculation through converting farmland around Santiago
into urban uses is, according to Rendón, an example of how the plan's
measures have been violated through "an unnatural alliance between
business and politics," in which public functionaries encouraged
private investment.
Acción Ecológica, with the support of the Furious Cyclist Movement,
the Pro-Cyclist Network and others, convened a bicycle rally on
Saturday, May 20, with brigades of cyclist pedalling uninterrupted
for 12 hours around the presidential palace in the Plaza de la Constitución.
The rally, coming just before President Bachelet's first Message
to the Nation, was organized to promote seven measures that the
environmentalists say are urgent for reducing air pollution, and
which especially aim to discourage the use of cars.
Their proposals come in addition to those of other citizen organizations,
which call for improved efficiency in the transportation sector,
auditing of industrial emissions with stricter rules, and higher
standards for fuels, especially diesel, which has seen demand rise
in recent years.
"It is citizen pressure that will change things. The plans to clean
up the air have failed because they were made from a technical and
bureaucratic perspective. But what is needed is a cultural change,
in which we all have greater awareness that traveling today by car
in Santiago is like smoking in a small room at home," said Rendón.
* Gustavo González is an IPS correspondent.
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