The municipality of Moa, in the province of Holguín, is home to important nickel mining and processing industries. This situation places it as one of the main locations in Cuba affected by air pollution. This has led to it being the only place in the country with four air quality monitoring stations.
Consequently, nickel companies have demonstrated responsible environmental performance, aiming to mitigate atmospheric emissions. As part of this corporate responsibility, it is necessary to periodically, as on other occasions, perform maintenance actions on their facilities.
In each case, the established procedures for the required permits must be followed so that the environmental impact of these corrective actions is zero or low. Since July 7, the Comandante Ernesto Che Guevara Company has been carrying out a planned shutdown to perform maintenance on the plant’s gas cleaning system. This has caused an increase in suspended particulate matter that has affected the population, aggravated by the meteorological conditions of an intense drought.
To date, health authorities are constantly monitoring for respiratory or other illnesses that may arise from this situation.
The Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment (Citma), as the environmental authority, will continue to monitor the situation together with health authorities, assessing the impact on people and ecosystems.
At the time of writing, the company has decided to halt maintenance work until compliance with current regulations is guaranteed and no harm to the population is ensured. The continuity of the work must ensure the minimization of the impact and effects of emissions.
Source: www.citma.gob.cu
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