LA Times on coal in Colombia
Coal no boon to Colombian city
DUST COATS TOWN, POLLUTES WATER AND CHASES OFF TOURISTS
By Chris Kraul
Los Angeles Times
SANTA MARTA, Colombia - This historic port city was once touted by the Colombian government as the next Acapulco, with its scenic bay, white sand beaches, colonial history and the ecotourism potential of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, home to one of the largest and oldest pre-Columbian settlements in the Americas.
Then came the coal dust.
``It covers the plants, the furniture, enters into the reception area and even the rooms,'' said Leonor Gomez Gonzalez, owner of the beachfront Park Hotel. ``It's a permanent condition. Nothing stays clean.''
Officials say tourism is down significantly and that only one new hotel has been built in three years -- ever since coal shipments began to increase dramatically.
Riding high on the global commodities boom, Colombia is reaping an enormous windfall from exports of its high-quality coal, and millions of tons of it are being shipped a year from this sweltering, desert-like coastal area to the far corners of the earth.
But in Santa Marta, officials and residents complain that the only dividend they're getting is an unwanted one: the fine layer of coal dust spread over much of the town each morning after La Loca, or the Crazy One, blows. That's what locals call the gusts that scatter the black dust through much of the city -- from the poor barrio of San Martin to the wealthy beach enclave of Bella Vista -- hurting tourism, fishing and possibly the health of the residents.
The mining industry now overshadows tourism here in Colombia's first city, which was founded in 1524. Its deep-water port has made it a leading embarkation point for coal mined in La Guajira and Cesar states, and the dust and residue from thousands of loads of coal passing through or near here daily on trucks and trains have smudged the city's image and cooled visitors' ardor.
At the same time, construction in the rest of Colombia is booming, as is tourism in selected areas.
Mayor Francisco Zuniga said in an interview last week that the growing presence of coal had robbed Santa Marta of jobs and economic growth.
Contamination of the Santa Marta Bay by coal dust and by at least two major spills from coal-laden barges since 2001 has severely damaged the marine ecosystem and reduced the once-rich fishing grounds, experts say.
``Right there, that's hunger,'' fisherman Humberto Grande, 20, said as he contemplated the measly load of sardines that he and his nine companions had harvested from the sea after 12 hours of backbreaking work, setting and then hauling in their quarter-mile-long net. The catch was worth about $2 each to them.
Residents worry that the coal, well known for causing severe pulmonary problems such as black-lung disease and silicosis in miners, could be a public-health time bomb.
``Many children have come down with respiratory and skin problems,'' said Hector Ortiz, community leader of the poor San Martin barrio. ``It's because of the coal dust that the air current brings here.''
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North Shore Colombia Solidarity Committee
Posted by nscolombia
at 1:18 PM EDT
