BACONGO: “It’s not over til it’s over”
On yesterday’s newscast B.E.L.’s CEO Lynn Young offered his company’s opinion on the decision to green light B.E.L.’s Chalillo hydroelectric project. Today News 5’s Janelle Chanona travelled west where she spoke to NEAC chairman Ismael Fabro in Belmopan and BACONGO’s Sharon Matola at the Belize Zoo.
Ismael Fabro, Chief Environmental Officer
“We did not get involved in the emotional hype, nor the political hype surrounding the project. We are primarily evaluating technical information, making technical decisions. I’d just like to set that clear.”
Janelle Chanona, Reporting
And on Friday, the National Environmental Advisory Committee, NEAC, made the very technical decision to grant Chalillo the environmental go-ahead to begin construction. The vote was spilt eleven to one.
Ismael Fabro
“It was primarily based on the individual’s conviction as right information, as the issues were being answered.
Janelle Chanona
“Do you think the fact that the majority of the committee were government representatives and government had already given the endorsement for it? You don’t think that was a factor in how the vote went?”
Ismael Fabro
I don’t think that that really determined the outcome of giving clearance for the project, our decision was never really been based on what the political decision has been. We’re a technical committee here.
There is, like you said, the impression that it was a done deal and that NEAC might have only rubber stamped central government’s endorsement of the project. But we would like to give the general public this information that that is not necessarily so. That what we did was done out of a technical conviction of the information that we reviewed.”
But that explanation didn’t cut it with the environmentalists.
Sharon Matola, Dir., Belize Zoo
“It’s a government committee mainly, and when the Prime Minister stands up and says, well I hope I can influence NEAC, well one wonders…we knew that was going to happen.”
NEAC says even though the project has been cleared environmentally, it will not be official until the environmental compliance plan is signed. Fabro says there will be continuous monitoring of the site during the dam’s construction and after the project is completed.
Ismael Fabro
“In the instance of the environment compliance plan, even beside the budget being identified for the implementation of these activities that we will be requiring the placement of a performance bond, equivalent to three percent of the overall cost of the project. That is for us to be able to access that immediately if anything is not implemented or we encounter problems along the line.
Often times, what has occurred is that our environmental compliance plans sometimes had conditions that were too broad and general. We want to make it now as specific as we could. We want to make sure that these things have timeframes and they have budgets associated with them, identified for these activities, to ensure that the implementation of these activities are going to be met. One of the main concerns here is that often times we identify these mitigation measures, but people feel that they are not followed through. We’re gonna ensure that in this instances this is done the right way and that the mitigation measures identified are followed up through.”
Sharon Matola
“How do we mitigate the health hazards that have never been discussed? How do we address the threats to the people that are living downstream? That’s never been addressed, that’s never been studied, so how do we mitigate something that has yet to be studied? I’d like to know the answers to that, and I’ll bet the people living downstream to the dam will be very interested in that as well. Just to put things in perspective, just because an E.I.A. is approved by NEAC, does not necessarily mean a project is going to be realised. Let’s look at mile twenty-seven, that E.I.A. was approved by a greater vote than what we saw happened in Belmopan recently. What happened to the project? I rest my case.
Our concerns are that it’s completely illegal what did happen. You’re dealing with an incomplete document and you’re dealing with the E.I.A. regulations completely dismissed and not followed. I can give you two examples. Public consultation, that should occur prior to a NEAC decision, not afterwards. Then it’s merely propaganda, telling you what’s going on. The other thing is not all of the information was made available to the NEAC members, which smacks of illegalities. For instance, ten thousand email messages of concern and comments were deleted. They were not even available for the NEAC process to look at. So this kind of doesn’t ring well for democracy does it?”
Ismael Fabro
“The amount of phone calls that we received, the amount of demonstrations against the project and people calling us almost questioning our commitment to the protection of Belize’s environment conservation if we didn’t go against it. That is real pressure in terms of trying to coerce a position against the project.
We give them the assurance that none of these species will go extinct as a result of the project. And we still welcome their interest in helping preserve what we have here in Belize. The only thing I think, is sometimes we have to be balanced in our perspective.”
Sharon Matola
“It’s not over. Lynn Young can stand up and say we’re gonna start construction in January, but that’s not what going on in Canada right now. And no matter what NEAC says, the decision is made in Canada. That was also restated by our Prime Minister in England when he was there recently, because that journalist who he stated it to called me. So guess what, it ain’t over til it’s over.”
And while the controversy may be over in Belize, the environmentalists’ lobby will likely shift its focus to Canada, home of B.E.L.’s parent, the Fortis Corporation. For both sides, it may be a long cold winter. Reporting for News 5, I am Janelle Chanona.
