Lebanonwire, November 30, 2002

The Daily Star

Hala Kilani
Daily Star staff

As an environmental lawsuit against the American University of Beirut by neighboring residents remains deadlocked in court, the educational institution is in the process of installing filters to neutralize pollutants emanating from its offending power plant.
Irritated by the pollution from the plant and frustrated by a lack of a response by AUB to their complaints, residents of the luxurious coastal skyscraper, Corniche Gardens, hired lawyer Chibli Mallat and filed the lawsuit four months ago.
The latest ruling by the court charged independent experts with the task of measuring the levels of toxicity of fumes from the power plant.
But Mallat says that AUB, which is obliged to provide the equipment to carry out the measurements, has delayed the process and “now the judge is expecting a report from the experts explaining the reasons for the delay.”
News of the filters, eight of which will be installed within three weeks, did not seem to satisfy Mallat, who insisted that AUB should obtain its power from Electricite du Liban “like everyone else.”
EDL sources told The Daily Star that if AUB pays its dues, it was ready to provide the institution with uninterrupted power. However, AUB remains skeptical about the reliability of EDL.
In a letter to the editor of the AUB student publication Outlook, AUB provost Peter Heath said that he had attended a dinner in a luxurious five-star hotel located near the university in Ain al-Mreisseh, during which the power went off.
“We dined by candlelight. AUB runs the best and most sophisticated hospital in Lebanon. I would find it hard to explain to patients in the operating room or in intensive care units that their lives were at risk because the public power supply cannot guarantee electricity around the clock,” Heath wrote.
Environmental engineering professor Motassem Fadel affirmed that the filters were 90 to 99 per cent effective in reducing pollution resulting from the combustion of fuel in the plant.
The filters, which are basically catalytic converters, eliminate poisonous gases such as sulfur and carbon monoxide but they do not have an effect on nitrogen oxide, a gas that causes respiratory problems.
Fadel defended AUB saying that it possesses “state of the art equipment and the best combustion chambers in the Middle East,” adding that the levels of pollution from the power plant were lower than that produced by cars in the city.
“Whatever is on the streets is worse; it is well known that the transport sector is the major source of pollution,” Fadel said.
Greenpeace Lebanon campaigner Zeina Hajj disagreed with Fadel, saying that the filters would minimize the pollution but would not solve the problem.
“Filters will not lead to zero risk,” she said. “They are not being transparent in AUB, they should stop hiding behind the problem, they should solve it.”
She said that the neighbors must be genuinely bothered by the pollution if they filed a lawsuit against AUB.
“It’s not easy for anyone, no matter how rich and powerful, to file a lawsuit against AUB or anyone else in this country. They must be really annoyed for them to do so,” the campaigner said.
Hajj said that she expected a renowned educational institution like AUB to come up with a “cleaner solution” by investing in solar power or a windmill, setting an example for the rest of the country.
She said that the investment of $2 million, which is the cost AUB paid for the filters, could have gone toward buying a windmill providing
2 megawatts to run the entire university.
“This misplaced investment shows that even AUB has no vision for sustainable development because it did not opt for using a clean system,” Hajj said.
The battle between AUB and Corniche Garden residents has attracted media coverage, prompting other neighbors to join the lawsuit.
Diana Bazzi, who also resides near AUB, above the Taj al-Moulouk sweet shop overlooking the sea, contacted Corniche Gardens residents after reading media reports about the lawsuit and told them she would join them in their efforts.
Bazzi has been writing letters to AUB since 1996 complaining about the noise and air pollution from the plant, which also provides half of the houses in the neighborhood with electricity.
Although she has double-glazed windows, she complains that she is still bothered by the noise and says the generators are never off even at night. The filters, which AUB is installing, might reduce the air pollution, but they will have no effect on the noise.
“The noise the plant makes is very loud,” Bazzi said. “And sometimes when I hang my laundry outside I notice that my T-shirts become tattered as if a chemical was burning them.”
Bazzi, who enjoys a wonderful view of the sea from her apartment, said that the power plant makes her regret buying her house.
“It’s not enjoyable anymore to live here, I honestly regret buying this apartment, but when we bought it we weren’t expecting this,” Bazzi said.
Bazzi was discouraged by several of her neighbors to fight AUB. She said that she has received anonymous phone calls telling her that she would not be able to do anything. She added that an official from the Beirut municipality once warned her that she was fighting a state within a state.
Bazzi feared that some of the neighbors were reluctant to fight alongside her because they had interests in the university.
But Ahmed Tannir and Adib Saoud, who both live much closer to the power plant and had been residents of Ain al-Mreisseh long before the plant was established, said they have been complaining for over 30 years and that the situation is only getting worse.
Although Tannir does benefit from the power that AUB provides, he said that his health was more important and he was ready to pay EDL for his electricity if that would mean the plant would be shut down. Tannir said the power plant shakes the windows and disturbs his children while they are studying, conjecturing that there has been a rise in cancer cases due to the air and noise pollution caused by the plant.
Tannir and Saoud both agreed that the old residents of Ain al-Mreisseh were ready to fight alongside Corniche Gardens residents but most felt offended by the latter’s “rich folks arrogant attitude.”
Corniche Garden residents recently called on all neighbors to attend a meeting to discuss joining the lawsuit without having to contribute financially.
“Most neighbors boycotted the meeting because they felt offended. They felt as if Corniche Gardens residents thought they were unable to pay the expenses of the lawsuit,” Saoud said.

Copyright©Daily Star