Flood of enviro court cases likely
published: Sunday | May 21, 2006

Devon Evans, Gleaner Writer

Ocho Rios:

FOLLOWING LAST Tuesday's decision by High Court judge Mr. Justice Bryan Sykes to quash the environmental permit for the Bahía Príncipe Hotel now under construction at Peartree Bottom in St Ann, environmentalists are planning to flood the courts with other cases of environmental breaches.

In quashing the permit in the Supreme Court last Tuesday, Justice Sykes sharply criticised NEPA for failing in its statutory duty according to law.

According to Diana McCaulay, head of the Jamaica Environment Trust (JET), the court ruling means that the environment impact assessment (EIA) study on which the construction permit was granted was flawed, and that a permit no longer exists for the multimillion United States dollar project.

Based on the judgement, work on the project should have been halted immediately, but Justice Sykes has granted a 21- day stay of execution to allow lawyers for the Government enough time to challenge his ruling.

However, The Sunday Gleaner has been reliably informed that there are over 50 different projects in various parts of the island where concerns have been raised over the manner in which approval was granted by environmental regulator, the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA).

PROMOTION APPARATUS

Some environmentalist, are now accusing NEPA of behaving as if it were part of Govern-ment's investment promotion apparatus rather than carrying out its mandate as a protector of the environment.

For a number of years, several environmentalists, members of community groups and individuals have been complaining repeatedly about the granting of permits by NEPA for various developments islandwide, ranging from resort properties, to housing schemes to cemeteries, where there were alleged environmental breaches and potential threats to the environment.

However, it took the courage of two environmental organisations and four individuals to successfully bring action against NEPA in the country's High Court.

Wendy Lee, executive director of the Northern Jamaica Conser-vation Association (NJCA), is one of NEPA's harshest critics and is the main driving force behind the recent judicial review of the permit given to the developers of the Bahía Príncipe Hotel.

While hailing the judgement of the Supreme Court as a big victory for the people of Jamaica, Ms. Lee said it has made her organisation much stronger, to the extent that in the future,
it will not hesitate to use the court to seek redress on other environmental matters.

LISTENING TO THE PEOPLE

"It is really disgraceful the way people in high levels of Government in Jamaica act like they have all the power to do whatever they can without even listening to the people," she remarked.

Most noted among the projects for which concern has been raised are the recently built Riu Palace Hotel in Mammee Bay, St. Ann, where at one stage a stop order had to be made on the project by the St. Ann Parish Council for breaches of environmental regulations.

When contacted for comment, chairman of the council and Mayor of St. Ann's Bay, Delroy Giscombe, said the problems at NEPA are mainly as a result of political pressure from members of the Government who want to see projects hastily started.

Mayor Giscombe recalled that when the council had problems with the developers of the Riu Palace Hotel and pressured NEPA into taking action, the council came under a lot of pressure from certain ministries. "I warned them that while we were rushing to bring in investments, sometimes it can be to the detriment of the country in the long run," he recalled. The mayor is recommending that the competent officers at NEPA be given a free hand to do their work in protecting the Jamaican environment.