Residents, environmentalists seek to block quarry

Local residents and environmentalists have challenged a proposal to renew quarrying on Puerto Bueno Mountain near the Queen's Highway between Rio Bueno and Discovery Bay in St Ann.

The landowners, the Diamond Property Development Company, have applied to the Ministry of Energy and Mining for a 450-acre quarry on the site. But the mountain area, recommended for protection by scientists since 1969, has one of the few remaining dry limestone forests in the Caribbean.

Environmental interests working to protect the area say the site remains in virtually the same condition it did when Columbus dropped anchor off Jamaica in 1494. They say the forest and many rare and threatened species that inhabit it would be irreversibly destroyed by quarrying.

At a 2007 meeting hosted by the Northern Jamaica Conservation Association (NJCA), stakeholders - including residents and environmental experts - unanimously endorsed a proposal to seek protection for the area as a forest-management area and nature reserve.

More than 680 online visitors have signed a petition demanding protection for the site since the quarry-application filing. A Facebook group called Protect Puerto Bueno Mountain, Jamaica, has attracted 1,500 members.

A limestone quarry and crushing plant were operated on the company's land from 2001 to 2008 without planning permission from the St Ann Parish Council or an environmental permit from the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA), leaving local houses covered in dust and reportedly causing respiratory illnesses - impacts that haunt Diamond's application now.

Diamond is owned by Duane Blake and Valerie Williams, son and wife of the late Vivian Blake, reputed founder of the Shower Posse, who died March 25, 2010.

The mountain lies just across the highway from the University of the West Indies' (UWI) Discovery Bay Marine Lab, and there is hope that intercession from the UWI could bolster stakeholders' conservation efforts.

Scenic value of mountain

The Puerto Bueno site is described in an NJCA report as "an area of wave-cut terraces ... majestic fossil reefs, and dramatic limestone cliffs," a treasure trove of Jamaican biodiversity. Stands of large old-growth trees fill the mountain's ravines, while the cliffs provide shelter for endemic bats and nest sites for John crows.

Such coastal limestone forests are understood to protect the coral reefs below them by filtering sediment and absorbing nutrients, which raises the possibility that mining would adversely affect the marine environment.

The site is considered a critical habitat for the endangered Jamaican boa. At least 53 species of birds, including 13 of Jamaica's 30 endemic species and 14 endemic subspecies make their homes in its various microclimates, according to reports. It holds endemic cacti, orchids, and bromeliads, and is rich in invertebrates, including the rare kite swallowtail butterfly.

A 1956 botanical investigation noted that the area stood undisturbed for centuries because of its inaccessibility. The NJCA's 2007 ecological assessment uncovered several "enormous, ancient" specimens of a previously unknown agave plant.

Less than five per cent of Jamaica remains in primary forest, the figure having dropped from almost a third - from 33 per cent - during the last century. Cumulative impacts of deforestation - to which the quarrying of 450 acres would contribute - include declining water quality, erosion, reduced rainfall, and rising temperatures.

Protected status

The lands in question have repeatedly been proposed for protected status, starting with botanist George Proctor in 1969; the 1988 Discovery Bay Development Plan; Jamaica's 1997 Policy for a National System of Protected Areas; and in the 2000 St Ann Parish Development Order.

At an April 6 meeting of the St Ann Parish Council's Physical Planning and Environmental Control Committee, councillors were unanimous in their support for area protection as stipulated by the Development Order. According to meeting minutes, the committee agreed that the "benefits for the parish and future generations will be better served [by conservation] as opposed to short-term economic gain".

Participants at an April 7 meeting required by NEPA for public discussion of the proposal, questioned several aspects of the application process as it has unfolded. Despite the site's documented importance and repeated calls for its preservation, no environmental impact assessment has yet been required for the project by NEPA, and - as the NJCA report noted - the site has never undergone a comprehensive plant survey.

The proposals by Diamond's environmental consultants, CL Environmental, to relocate all rare plant and animal species in the forest to a grassland on the property and to mine around selected trees were dismissed as unworkable by stakeholders. Similarly, a statement that the crushing plant's high walls would reduce escaping dust was met with disbelief.

Vision for Forest

From 2006 to 2007, the NJCA conducted a consultation process on how to best preserve the Puerto Bueno forest. The project was funded by the Forestry Depart-ment's National Forest Programme Facility and the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

Together, stakeholders developed a vision for the mountain that included seeing the ecosystem managed as a conservation and research area for the marine lab; designating it as a wildlife reserve and point of release for rescued species; using it as a seed bank for endemic flora; and exploring its potential as an ecotourism attraction, with trails, picnic areas, and exhibits.

St Ann Jamaica Bauxite Partners, which at the time controlled about 100 hectares of the target area, expressed willingness to consider establishing a conservation trust, but Diamond, in a letter to the NJCA, said it did not anticipate such a possibility.

The group also reached consensus to pursue declaration of the site as a national nature reserve and wilderness area under the Natural Resource Conservation Authority (NRCA) Act; to seek designation as a forest-management area under the Forest Act; and to try to extend the reserve boundaries offshore to include an area of marine habitat.

Proposed future operations

The former quarry was operated from 2001-2008 by José Cartellone Construcciones Civiles SA, contractors for the North Coast Highway Project under lease from Diamond. Despite complaints from residents about dust, noise, blast damage, and the lack of environ-mental permits, the quarry and crushing plant were allowed to operate by the Ministry of Mining to facilitate highway construction.

At the April 7 public meeting, residents of the nearby Puerto Bueno subdivision recalled being told by ministry representatives that the project was "for the national good", and that it would only last two years. An elderly participant described the impacts of the earlier quarry as the "brutalisation" of residents.

According to reports in The Gleaner and elsewhere, some residents left the area, dismayed by the constant dust and reduction in quality of life. Some reportedly developed respiratory illnesses.

Diamond's project brief says the gravel will be mined for shipment to the United States. It notes that the previous quarry was just 50 feet from the road, and promises that "this new location is situated on a bluff behind a forested buffer" almost 1,000 feet away, which would "make it inconspicuous from the roadway ... and ... act as a noise and dust shield".

Explosives would be used to blast the quarry, with rocks carried by truck to an on-site station for crushing.

- Contributed