A number of important projects recently approved or considered by this Government have raised eyebrows on Anguilla. But they may also have attracted the attention of the UK Parliament’s Environmental Audit Committee. The Governor’s Office announced on 26 March that the Governor has received a letter from Joan Walley, M.P., Chair of the Environmental Audit Committee of the House of Commons. She has requested that he answers a number of questions about environmental decisions in Anguilla. Many of the questions she raises touch on issues that fall under the scope of elected Ministers, the House of Assembly, the Attorney-General and other stakeholders. So the Governor has, with the Committee’s agreement, circulated this letter to the Minister of the Environment and other members of Executive Council. Any person or institution with a legitimate interest in the letter may contact the Governor’s Office for more details.
Anguilla signed up to an Environment Charter in 2001 when Osbourne Fleming was Chief Minister. The Charter committed Anguilla to “ensure that environmental impact assessments are undertaken before approving major projects”. Environmental Impact Assessments are carried out by independent experts to highlight the environmental consequences of any proposed project.
Anguilla’s commitment to doing the right thing on projects that affect the environment was renewed by Chief Minister Hubert Hughes, just last December, at the Joint Ministerial Council in London – the new body set up by the UK and the Overseas Territories to implement their partnership as set out in last year’s White Paper.
In the December meeting, all Overseas Territories leaders, including the Chief Minister, promised “to ensure that where commercial use of natural resources takes place, it is carried out in the most sustainable and environmentally responsible way (including through the use of environmental impact assessments, evidence-based management plans, and protection of important areas)”. The Chief Minister also undertook to “put environmental considerations at the heart of policy and decision making.”
It is not clear what was at the heart of the decision to allow the Dolphin Discovery park to start operations in Blowing Point. Multiple appeals to EXCO from concerned members of the public, protesting Walcott Richardson’s decision to allow the park to operate, have been pending for months. Nor is it clear what notice was taken by EXCO of the various Environmental Impact Assessments given to them before they agreed to allow the breakwater installation at Viceroy. The plan to develop a commercial salt operation at Sandy Ground salt pond raises similar issues. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds has been actively campaigning against this project. The December meeting Communique (2012) states that “the Territories are home to many species and environments found nowhere else in the world and that sustainable economic growth and livelihoods within the Territories depend on the responsible stewardship of these natural resources.” Sandy Ground pond is just such a site.
There are rumours that senior Government politicians have already given assurances that the salt pond project will go ahead, even though EXCO has not discussed the application and there is therefore no firm or approved Government position. The developer himself, by contrast, wants to see an Environmental Impact Assessment carried out before going any further.
These projects could be why Anguilla has been singled out for inspection under the microscope of the UK Parliament’s Environmental Audit Committee – a watchdog with sharp teeth that can make recommendations to the UK parliament as a whole. Where is the local watchdog to nip the heels of the Government and hold them to account?
