Ministry of Environment supports environmental adequacy of the proposed new
Siderurgica Nacional
CZA
Globovisión / ABN
06/03/2009 5:41:55 PM



The proposed construction of the new National Steel in the municipality Raúl
Leoni, Bolivar state, is handled with respect for environmental regulations in
the country.

So said the director of People's Power Ministry for the Environment (Minamb) in
Bolivar State, Rodolfo Gonzalez, during the act of initiation of earthmoving for
new steel, held this Friday in Ciudad Piar, in the presence of the president the
Republic, Hugo Chávez Frías.

Gonzalez said that unlike the heavy industries developed before the Bolivarian
Revolution, "the project of the National Steel has been consulted from the
outset with Minamb, in order to adapt to legal rules for the use of soil, water
and air ".

This plant is located in an area of savannas and low mountains of Raúl Leoni
township, near the Lake Guri and the Caroni River, the Environment Act provides
very strict controls to minimize the impact on natural resources, he added .

"I must thank the authorities of the state Ferrominera Orinoco, the agency
promoting the project on behalf of the Government, by the close contact
maintained with Minamb fails to correct any environmental project," he said.

He said that FMO and Minamb Bolivar established the first Bureau of Technical
Assessment, which seeks to identify problems, find solutions and implement them
immediately with all the technical resources available.

At this point, argued that since launching the project to date Siderurgica
Nacional have been corrected, together, five environmental problems associated
with this project, which aims to build a steel mill capable of producing 1
million 500 thousand tons of liquid steel Annual alloy for automotive use.

Also added that the Minamb Ferrominera Orinoco and are working on the evaluation and correction of other environmental problems resulting from the extraction and processing of iron in the municipalities and Caroní Piar in Bolívar state.

"Now we start the improvement of the Lagoon Palu, in the convergence of the
Caroni and Orinoco rivers, affected by the processing activity of iron in plant
FMO," he explained.

Was also reported that the joint review of the draft environmental adequacy for
the technical administrative closure of the mine El Pao, which stopped producing
iron 15 years ago.

He noted that the Mibam is committed to working with other state and private
enterprises operating in Bolivar state, to execute the recovery of affected
areas and minimize the impact on those activities where required for heavy
industry.

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