Peter Espeut | Seeking environmental justice

Last Wednesday in Parliament, during the Sectoral Debate, Mining Minister Robert Montague announced that the Government was in discussions with the owners of the ecologically sensitive Puerto Bueno Mountain property in St Ann with a view to providing them with other limestone-rich lands which they could mine.

This is not what I expected to hear from a government whose environmental technocrats had quite properly denied a licence to mine the lands at Puerto Bueno Mountain because of the ecological destruction which would result, which decision had been overruled and overturned by the prime minister.

After a hue and cry from the Jamaican public – more environmentally aware now than at any time in our history – the Government imposed 76 conditions on the company seeking to mine the area, including the requirement that they post a J$40-million bond by January 17, 2021 to cover any environmental damage caused if they breach any of the terms of their licence. Prime Minister Holness put his personal credibility on the line by declaring in November 2020: “I’m the first one to shut it down” if Bengal breaches any of the conditions of the permit.

Well, the mining company breached the terms of their licence; they failed to post the $40-million bond by January 17, 2021. But the prime minister failed to “shut it down”; instead, the company was granted an extension of time (to March 21, 2021) to post the bond.

That deadline was also missed. Until now, the bond has not been posted.

What I expected to hear last week from Minister Montague was that the prime minister – jealous of his credibility and to protect his reputation – had decided to keep his promise, and that the mining project on Puerto Bueno Mountain was being shut down.

WHERE HAS THE AXE FALLEN?

Instead, the mining company will be offered some other – as yet unnamed – limestone mountain to dig down.

If you have not heard any applause from Jamaican patriots rejoicing that another environmental heritage treasure has been saved, it is because no one knows on which limestone forest ecosystem the axe has fallen. For all we know, it could be some other more ecologically valuable area!

And the motives for the offer are in question: is this announcement the Government finally doing its constitutional duty to protect Jamaica’s natural heritage? Or is it a (vain) effort to tempt the concerned Jamaicans who filed an action in the Supreme Court against the Government re Puerto Bueno Mountain, to withdraw their lawsuit – which the citizens are likely to win?

But it certainly is an admission that the action of PM Holness to overturn the decision of his environmental technocrats was wrong. Those who wish to protect and conserve Jamaica’s natural heritage can learn an important lesson: Don’t look for the Government to do the right thing out of any sense of justice or morality; take the Government to court!

In the same speech to Parliament, Minister Montague announced that Special Mining Lease (SML) 173 given to Noranda Jamaica Bauxite Partners to mine 8,335 hectares of land in the Cockpit Country had been “adjusted” to remove approximately 6,000 hectares of land, which will be replaced with additional lands (SML 71) to the east of where the company is currently mining (SML 165).

Even The Gleaner in its editorial last Sunday, ‘Waiting to cheer Cockpit Country, Bengal moves’, has withheld applause.

Several governments – including this one – have promised to protect ‘The Cockpit Country’ from mining, but have reneged on their promises by defining for protection a small area called ‘The Cockpit Country Protected Area’, condemning large areas of genuine karst cockpits to the depredations of limestone and bauxite miners.

The announcement last week might save – for the moment – 6,000 hectares of cockpits, but condemns a different 6,000 hectares.

Mining is not sustainable development. The Government has no intention of protecting the Cockpit Country, but is obfuscating and juggling. Maybe only a lawsuit or a constitutional action will give Jamaicans environmental justice.

Peter Espeut is a sociologist and an environmentalist. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com