The level of security at two of the 12 ammonia plants at the Pt Lisas industrial estate, Couva, is elaborate, which would make it very difficult for someone to enter the plants to do damage. So said Stephen Pollard, chief executive officer, Caribbean Nitrogen Company and Nitrogen 2000 Ltd's two ammonia plants at Pt Lisas. He said: "These are chemical processes. The equipment runs at very high pressure, very high temperatures, so it is an environment where you have to have all sorts of security in place to prevent accidents that can be very serious. "For instance, the plants are completely surrounded by chain link fence. There are cameras on the fence line. "Security patrols them constantly, all the time, 24 hours a day. You can't come through the gates unless you get a pass, so there's quite an elaborate system of security in place. We need to have that at all times," Pollard said yesterday.
He was responding to Dr Stephen Ramroop, chief executive officer of the Office of Disaster Preparedness Management (ODPM), yesterday advising that critical national facilities step up their security with threats of retaliation from Islamic groups after the United States Army killed Al Qaeda's mastermind Osama bin Laden on Sunday night in a Pakistan hideout. He was speaking after the opening of the Expansion of the Earthquake Readiness Capacity Building Initiative stakeholder consultation at the Chancellor Hotel and Conference Centre, St Ann's. The American Government has cautioned all American citizens and embassies about possible terror strikes by Al Qaeda in retaliation for Bin Laden's death. Caribbean Nitrogen's Pollard said all the energy plants at Pt Lisas have similar security systems to the two ammonia plants of which he was in charge.
He added: "There are 12 ammonia plants on the Pt Lisas estate. We have two. All the others have the same kind of systems that we do, so we are not unique in this respect. "It would be very difficult for someone to get into a plant to do some damage. You can't say it will never happen but there are much easier targets if somebody was really interested in something like that. "I can talk for the energy sector. I can talk for my companies in particular. I would say that all of the companies, all of the energy plants on the Pt Lisas estate, have a very high level of security, health safety and environment (HSE) systems and the like," Pollard said. He said Caribbean Nitrogen Company and Nitrogen 2000 Ltd, which are members of the Energy Chamber, produce 1.3 million metric tonnes of ammonia a year, all of which is exported, upwards of 60 per cent to the United States. Pollard said there were a few companies on the industrial estate which were American-owned, including Pt Lisas Nitrogen, and PCS Nitrogen, which was Canadian-registered, but had major operations in the US.
He added: "We are always concerned about security. The point is because of that, we have levels of security that are fairly high and we don't see the need to do anything differently than what we have been doing up until now because Osama bin Laden has been executed. "To try to set an example: Why will they target Trinidad when there are other, much more highly-profiled companies involved in this kind of business the United States has direct investments in. "We would not be at the top of the list to begin with, in my view. Having said that, anything with security does take high priority for us," Pollard said.
When contacted yesterday, communications officers for State-owned Petrotrin and bpTT declined comment. An e-mail sent to Billson Hainsley, media communications officer at Atlantic, which exports liquefied natural gas to the US, seeking a comment on heightened security concerns and protection of its energy assets in light of the killing of Bin Laden, got no response up to press time. Addressing the Brazilian business community last week as part of a T&T trade mission there, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar said T&T remained the largest exporter of liquefied natural gas to the US.