EMAL provides haven for Emirati wildlife

50 Emirates Aluminium (EMAL) employees left their work stations and headed to the beach last week, to conduct the first ever ‘Green EMAL: Beach Cleaning Campaign’ for the Al Taweelah based smelter’s Port Facility. The initiative is the latest of many from EMAL, which has complied with all Abu Dhabi Environment Agency standards and requirements since the inception of its operations plan, while adopting best practices wherever feasible.

Constant observation of the EMAL Port Facility beach area by the smelter’s Fire Prevention and Security Department over the last 12 months discovered that a wide variety of wildlife call the EMAL seafront home, including some endangered species. The area provides prime nesting for critically endangered Hawksbill sea turtles, with up to 28 nests and over 700 hatchlings observed successfully entering the sea during this year’s nesting season. 12 Ospreys - a fish eating bird of prey - were also observed nesting in the area.

Saeed Fadhel Al Mazrooei, EMAL’s President and CEO, said: “The wildlife that has chosen to call the EMAL beach home is testament to the measures and investments in the best environmental technologies we have made from the very start of this landmark project to preserve and protect the ecology of the areas in which we operate.  The presence of these animals indicates our success in ensuring good quality of water and marine life, and the Green EMAL: Beach Cleaning Campaign will help continue to keep the area as a haven for our native fauna.”

EMAL has invested in leading environmental technologies and emission controls from its earliest stages, including a natural gas pipeline that directly connects to EMAL to provide a clean, reliable and uninterrupted gas supply to the 2,000 MW power plant. This reduces CO2 emissions by up to 70 per cent compared to the coal-fired alternatives used in many other aluminium smelters around the world. In addition, EMAL has invested in state-of the–art emission control equipment including sulphur-dioxide scrubbers, the latest potroom gas treatment technology, the best-available gas turbine systems and cooling towers which help eliminate thermal stress on local marine life.

The company carried out a major wildlife translocation exercise during its construction phase in conjunction with the Abu Dhabi Environment Agency, to protect and preserve the local fauna and flora and is presently working to reduce “green-house” gas emissions.