Margaret Morris, Contributor
Shirley Sinclair displays the bauxite dust she has wiped off furniture in her house, She and her husband, Keith, left Jamaica as a young married couple from Hanover and bought a home here, for their retirement. Mr. Sinclair has reportedly developed asthma since returning here.
When the biggest environmental polluters in Jamaica are companies owned by the Government and the designated environmental police are government agencies, what chance is there of effective pollution control?
A case in point is the intense, sustained and unchecked bauxite dust pollution that now prevails in our community. The offending company is St. Ann Jamaica Bauxite Partners (SABJP). The Government of Jamaica owns 51 per cent of SABJP. The Jamaica Bauxite Institute (JBI) is responsible for monitoring its environmental performance. The National Environ-ment Planning Agency (NEPA) is responsible for enforcement of the environmental code. Both depend upon the Government of Jamaica for their existence.
In more mature societies, the inherent conflict of interest in this arrangement might not be important, but in Jamaica here and now, to a government facing a looming election, a towering debt burden and an empty exchequer, environmental concerns are not important. In this scenario, the mindset is likely to be. "As long as SABJP is replenishing the capital development fund, more power to them. So what if, in the process, they are raining huge quantities of bauxite dust on communities downwind? That is collateral damage. It is for the national good. Let the recipients of dust pollution just shut up, buy cough mixture, and get on with their lives."
This hypothesis is confirmed by the current inaction of the NEPA and the JBI.
dust deluge
I am one recipient of SABJP's dust deluge and have exhibits to prove that the current spate of pollution is excessive and can testify that official attempts to control it are nil. Dust tests, commenced on December 19, indicate sustained pollution night and day culminating in phenomenal dust-falls recorded on December 30 and 31.
This escalation of bauxite dust abuse began in October. In November, my complaints to the JBI and NEPA were ignored. In December, in response to a complaint, SABJP's GM said that if I could tell him where the dust leaks were he would see what he could do about them. I named sources that are clearly visible to any sighted person passing by the port area. I also mentioned the red clouds frequently observed over the drying plant.
On Thursday, December 28, I called the office to complain again. The GM was not available, but two staffers came to view my premises. One said he would try to find out the reason for the dust problem.
On December 28 and 29, I
wasted more time and money
calling the JBI and NEPA.
On December 30, I called SABJP again. The GM was off the island. The duty manager told me (from his home) that they were loading with a skeleton staff. He acknow-ledged that there was dust but he did not know its source. He agreed to investigate and inform me. He called back later to say he had not been able to identify a source. Not knowing about and not seeing dust pollution appears to be the mandatory response. It was an unequal struggle. I gave up.
In 2004, Kaiser Jamaica Bauxite Company (KJBC) died and was succeeded by SABJP. The GOJ holds 51 per cent of the shares and the managing partner Grammercy Alumina holds 49 per cent.
SABJP acquired a plant and port facility that were in shambles: old and worn-out, ill-equipped, ill-maintained and rapidly deteriorating. They also inherited an inadequate and demoralised workforce with many contract or casual workers
There was an obvious and urgent need for a thorough overhaul, extensive repairs, new equipment, reorganisation, expert management and training. We dust sufferers hoped and therefore assumed that the foreign partners had the means and the expertise to restore the institution to a semblance of decency.
absence of controls
It seemed that nothing could be worse than the pollution we had been getting from KJBC and we confidently expected that "Better must Come". We were wrong.
The new foreign partners are solvent and had options. Instead of a thorough makeover, they chose to maximise production and increase shipping regardless of the condition of the plant and the absence of effective environmental controls.
The result of this business plan is the level of dust pollution that we now experience.
The company's blatant contempt for the community is exemplified by the present condition of the storage dome: the entry doors missing, a gaping hole draped with a tarpaulin and thick plumes of dust streaming out whenever a ship is loading. But this is just one of multiple sources of fugitive dust - stockpiles, dryers, ships, conveyor belt, exits and apertures on the dome, are all busily making their contribution to pollution and sending microscopic dried bauxite dust on its way to Old Folly, Farm Town, Woods Town, Bethel Town, Islington, Bengal and Queens Road. Habitual inhalation of this type of dust is known to be injurious to health. The prevalence of respiratory tract ailments in these communities confirms that fact.
On January 1, 2007, my morning dust test recorded yet another heavy bauxite dust-fall overnight and my neighbour, a returned resident phoned me to say: "Happy New Year. I'm going back to England."
Meanwhile, the Minister of Environment, the CEO of NEPA and the CEO of JBI play their little game of Three Blind Mice.
Margaret Morris is a veteran freelance journalist.
