Concerns have been expressed among residents and organizations in Linden and at the level of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over bauxite dust emission particularly on the western side of the Demerara River.
No one wants to appear unduly alarmist about the situation and the Executive Director of the EPA, the Regional Chairman, Region Ten and the Regional Health Officer, Region Ten have all been measured in their responses to enquiries made by this newspaper about the dust menace.
We have learnt too that apparently there is no scientific study that has established a nexus between the bauxite dust and concentrations of any serious illness among the affected residents; and while there are cases of upper respiratory tract ailments in the community the Regional Health Officer told us that ailments of this kind are among the most commonplace ones not only in Linden but in Guyana as a whole.
Without wishing to appear to be challenging any of these views it is apposite to point out that as far as we have been informed the last scientific study carried out to determine the likely effects of the bauxite dust at Linden was done about fourteen years ago by a Canadian company and that that study alluded to the “nuisance” effect of the bauxite dust rather than to any serious health-related impact.
An interesting point about all this, we are told, is that the arrival of the Chinese company Bosai in Guyana has accelerated bauxite production and while dust was being emitted by a single stack for several years increased production has meant that dust is now emitting from at least two stacks.
The situation as far as the volume of dust is concerned is that the problem will definitely grow worse this year. Bosai has upped its bauxite production target to above 500,000 tons, an amount not produced in Linden for several years and a company official has told this newspaper that the stakeholders in the community have already been informed that the nuisance will become greater.
Up to this point, as far we can tell, Bosai has been engaging the competent authorities including the EPA on the matter. The company has undertaken to take both short and medium-term measures to address the problem and the EPA has directed that those measures be brought to its attention by month-end. Additionally, and arising apparently out of residents’ concerns, Bosai has said that it will make a medical intervention beginning at the end of March to provide treatment to residents of Wismar suffering with respiratory problems.
Concerns about the environmental and health impact of certain types of industrial undertakings are currently very much on the front burner of the international social agenda. Just last week at a forum on Corporate Social Responsibility sponsored by the Canadian High Commission we learnt of measures that have been implemented in Canada and elsewhere to hold the mining and other sectors more accountable for their actions.
No one wants to begin to point fingers at Bosai without justification but in a country with a less than proud record of sensitivity to environmental considerations in the mining sector it is important that official and public attention be paid to the problem and Bosai be required to undertake its corporate social responsibility as well as to honour the clauses in its mining agreement that have to do with a mindfulness of the environment.
Nor should it be left to Bosai alone. The fact that there have already been discourses among key stakeholders including community groups, the EPA and the region ten regional administration is a positive sign though the quicker the Busai commitments are put in place, the better, And perhaps, too, it is time for another careful independent study – funded by Bosai – of the health implications of the bauxite dust even if such a study serves simply to assure that the problem is not far more serious than the nuisance that it is made out to be.
