Government Incompetence Damaging Abaco's Environment

by Larry Smith

On a crisp winter morning recently, three birdmen were making their way carefully through the virgin pine forest on remote Little Abaco when they came across an amazing find.

Tony White and Bruce Hallett, who have both published authoritative field guides on Bahamian widlife, were joined for the early morning hike by Elwood Bracey, a retired Marsh Harbour doctor who is an ardent amateur ornithologist.

All three are longtime members of the Bahamas National Trust and Abaco Friends of the Environment. They were horrified at what greeted them in the forest less than a mile from historic 19th century ruins and half a mile from a pristine blue hole.

Unlike the rest of the Bahamian pinelands, this piece of forest on Little Abaco has never been cut. In fact, it is considered the only virgin stand of Caribbean pine in the entire region - about 4,000 acres in all, providing good habitat for warblers, woodpeckers, ducks, kingbirds, pewees, swallows and other widllife.

What the birdmen stumbled upon that morning were two huge clearings, with a big D-8 dozer noisily mining fill from one of them. Acres of virgin forest had been totally demolished in just a few hours to make way for the North Abaco waste transfer facility - although there was an existing dump only a mile or so away.

"What are we doing using the most unspoiled land for garbage when there's an existing dumpsite nearby?" Dr Bracey asked incredulously.

So he called Nassau to speak with Donald Cooper at the Bahamas Environment, Science & Technology Commission and with Henry Moxey, the solid waste project manager at the Ministry of Energy & Environment. He wanted to know whether any studies had been done prior to the dump site selection, but he got no response.

"Some official in Nassau just decided this is what we're going to do and it will be in this location," Dr Bracey said. "There was no concern for the environment or the local people. And this is the same type of governmental thinking that has allowed used car lots and unsighly clearings to spring up along the tourist-travelled road between Marsh Harbor and Treasure Cay."

Bracey then contacted the Bahamas National Trust in Nassau, which had not been consulted about the site. And newly appointed BNT chief Eric Carey flew to Abaco for a first-hand look. A former civil servant who has worked in conservation for the past three years, he came away from the site angry and perplexed:

"We want to say as strongly as possible that this is unfortunate and irresponsible planning on the part of a government agency." Carey told Tough Call. "This is an assault on the environment. Efforts should have been made to find a less sensitive spot rather than locating a dump in an undisturbed area of old growth forest."

According to Carey, the Trust will seek to have the dump moved and the remaining virgin pineland set aside as a national park. The BNT is an independent conservation agency that is responsible by law for the country's national parks and protected areas. It is also supposed to act as the government's advisor on environmental matters.

Ironically, the garbage transfer stations at Little Abaco in the north and at Cherokee in the south are part of a nationwide solid waste programme intended to deal with a huge environmental headache. But they were thoughtlessly planned by the same government agency that is supposed to be protecting the environment.

The project has a long history. It was launched with much fanfare almost a decade ago, when the Ingraham administration borrowed $23 million from the Inter-American Development Bank and put up another $10 million to upgrade waste disposal facilities in Nassau and on the most populated out islands.

The goal was to safely dispose of the hundreds of thousands of tons of garbage generated by Bahamian communities each year, much of it dumped along roadsides or on vacant land for want of an alternative. This was not only a serious and growing public health issue, it also threatened our lucrative out island tourist trade by turning our scenic landscapes into trash heaps.

At some dumps (especially in Nassau and on small cays in the Abacos) rats, odours, fires and toxic fumes posed a perennial health threat to nearby settlements. And workers were often forced to wear full hazard gear while they burned the overflowing piles of garbage almost continuously.

So a new sanitary landfill was built at Harrold Road featuring pits lined with a special membrane to prevent leachate contamination of the groundwater, and a shredding station to make compost from yard waste was included. This replaced a multi-million-dollar waste shredding facility that had broken down years ago and had never been fixed.

Meanwhile, central landfills in the out islands were to be built and sealed with hot-mix asphalt. Where the distance between settlements was considerable, low-cost transfer stations would be built to collect and compact garbage from surrounding communities for trucking in closed containers to the landfill.

It all seemed like a workable scheme at the time. And IADB experts were to provide supervisory help, design assistance and operational training along the way. The project was also supposed to include a massive public education and recycling campaign to promote cleaner communities.

But as the years spun by the impetus slowed. And what had been a major talking point after the 1999 hurricanes soon lapsed into bureaucratic obscurity - or perhaps absurdity would be a better word. Tough Call's efforts to pry information from the BEST Commission, the solid waste project chief and the director of environmental health were unsuccessful. Officials were either not available, did not return calls or reply to emails, or failed to produce what they promised.

They were no doubt embarrassed by the fact that our puffed-up politicos can't even manage a garbage dump scheme. Think of it - we can't dig 10 holes on 10 islands in 10 years with $33 million! The implications are truly staggering.

The two satellite dumps on Abaco are supposed to receive garbage from the northern and southern regions for transfer to a central landfill at Snake Cay near Marsh Harbour. However, although the landfill (read 'big hole') has been under construction for well over a year, no-one knows when it will be finished. In the meantime, most of the island's refuse continues to be burned at the Dundas Town dump, which is considered a public health nuisance to say the least.

The site on Little Abaco discovered by the birdmen was cleared about two weeks ago. But work on the other transfer facility near Cherokee in the south began months ago, without the knowledge of local officials or civic leaders. And unfortunately, there does not appear to be the slightest logic in either location. The Cherokee site is in a farming area near a public well-field. The Little Abaco site is in a stretch of virgin forest close to historic ruins and a blue hole.

And you do not have to be an expert to realise that neither are located sensibly with regard to their function. The Cherokee facility is not far from the central landfill - but 45 miles from Sandy Point in the south. The Little Abaco facility is at the extreme north of the island - about 50 miles from Snake Cay - and not far from an existing dump.

"Both transfer sites are in sensitive areas and have logistical issues," said John Hedden, a former agricultural officer who is part of a group seeking to have them removed. "And there has been no consultation with any of the local councils, which are responsible for managing solid waste disposal in the first place. How can the government boast that it is introducing environmental protection laws when they are the ones damaging our environment?"

In early February, concerned citizens met to discuss the Cherokee site. And after the discovery on Little Abaco, Henry Moxey, the engineer in charge of the government's solid waste programme, flew in from Nassau to meet with angry residents last Tuesday.

"It was quite spirited, with Mr Moxey leaving with his tail between his legs," one participant said. "He took a whipping but did the best he could to defend the government's position. It was obvious that he was sent here to make peace, which was not possible."

According to Hedden, who was also at the meeting, officials admitted that the whole project was way behind schedule and the IADB was threatening to withdraw funding: "Moxey said the sites were chosen by a formula based on distance between settlements, population density, garbage volume and so on. But it is much more likely that they just stuck a pin in the map.

"It was clear that they never visited the Little Abaco site before it was selected," Hedden said. "Moxey didn't know about the virgin forest, nor the existing dump nearby, nor the ruins, nor the blue hole. He knew nothing, which is a good indication that no site investigation was ever done and that they never consulted with the local population."

Steve Peddican, North Abaco's chief councillor, told Tough Call that the government was rushing to judgement and acting without sense: "No-one in local government here has been consulted and we are insulted by that. The government just does whatever it likes without any consideration, but we are going to try to stop this."

And Hedden's group (which includes Pat Bethel, Al Key and other leading citizens) will be meeting with local councilllors to formulate a message to Environment Minister Dr Marcus Bethel: "Moxey was emphatic about not making any changes because the IADB is on the government's case. So they are not prepared to listen to public opinion.

"But we want a team sent here from Nassau with the power to negotiate. We want construction stopped now and an amicable solution worked out with local communities."

The 1998 IADB project summary forecast a loss of "mainly secondary growth forest ecosystems of 3-7 acres for each of the 10 out island landfills." But there was no mention of destroying a pristine ecotourism site when other options are clearly available.

The Bahamian pineyards are the largest and most intact examples of subtropical pine rockland ecosystem in the world. According to The Nature Conservancy, about 350,000 acres on Abaco, Grand Bahama, Andros and New Providence support a wide range of globally imperiled and rare species, several of which are endemic to the ecosystem and/or the Bahamas.

"Because of their uniqueness, rarity, and extensive intact condition, the Bahamian pineland/coppice landscape on all four islands should be a conservation priority. Any significant fragmentation of the pinelands will lead to a degradation similar to what has occurred in Florida."

Commercial logging began on Abaco in the early 1900s. The last commercial harvesting for pulp and timber was conducted by Owen-Illinois from 1959 until 1966, when the logging operation moved to Andros.

According to Dave Ralph, a former lumber company employee who now runs the Abaconian newspaper: "The cutting sequence began in the central part of Abaco radiating out from Snake Cay then expanded north into the Norman's Castle area, and then moved to the south."

He says Little Abaco was probably spared because the cost of an additional 30 miles of road beyond Norman's Castle was not justified by the amount of timber projected to be removed. It is a great shame that thoughtless government actions now threaten this unique ecosystem.

But perhaps something will be learned from this debacle. As one irate Abaconian said: "We expect to be a part of any development on this island and we must be consulted in advance, not told after it is a cold fact.

"The government says the two transfer sites cannot be changed. They will soon get the idea that if garbage schemes cannot be changed, perhaps politicians can be."

Comments

[EB Christen]

The hard truth: the government is more interested in oil, LNG and other lucrative 'kick back' ready projects and cares little for the environment - either our seas or our pristine areas on land. Again, it is up to Bahamians to stop the abuses of government, but one must seriously question the will of the Bahamian people on environmental issues. As the saying goes, the people get the government they deserve. WAKE UP BAHAMAS!

[larry smith]

It is simpler than that. There are just too few who care about anything in this country.

The rest are content to do as they please regardless of the consequences. As I said, the implications for the future of the country from the way that this single project has been handled are truly staggering.

And that is probably an underestimation.

[NRGmanager]

I was in Nassau two weeks ago and I noticed that in the Cable Beach there were a large amount of solar powered street lights that were in need of repair. The solar street lights were hanging about and a majority looked like they were not functioning properly.

As a tourist to the islands I enjoy seeing a pristine and clean environment. Seeing solar panels leads me to believe that the government is attempting to maintain that greeness and hence wanting me to come back again in the future to enjoy the same.

Seeing the solar street lights was great, but to see them in disrepair was amazing.

We Gringo's love to come to the islands for the pristine environment. Probably the biggest reason someone stateside pays money to visit the Bahamas or the entire Caribbean region for that matter is to be able to say "Wow that place is so beautiful and clean" when they return home. An escape from the pollution at home.

I would hope that the government, utilities and banks fully understand the worth of using solar power for their economy, and that someone takes the time and effort to go fix these solar street lights.

[larry smith]

Unfortunately, those solar street lights were installed years ago an never maintained - another failed and wasted government programme.

[Dan Baker]

I came across around 6-8 large broken marine batteries on the shore of Lubbers. They are on a ramp and leak directly into the sea. These are on the property of a wealthy landowner who should know better. Is there an agency I can send details to?