Failure by the Chinese bauxite company Bosai Minerals Group (BMG) to install a dust collector at its Linden plant despite repeated promises to do so has to be attributed in part to the failure of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to “hold the company to its word,” a source close to the agency said.
“If you follow the history of this issue you will find that it goes back beyond Bosai. Cambior, Bosai’s predecessor, had promised to install a dust collector but choose to sell the company to Bosai without getting around to that. Bosai itself has made several promises and given several deadlines for starting and completing the installation of the dust extractor. Those commitments were not followed through and unfortunately there is no evidence that the EPA has applied enough pressure on the company,” the source said.
The remarks regarding the protracted delay in installing the dust collector comes in the wake of the company’s recent disclosure that preliminary works are due to begin on the installation of a US$6 million facility which it hopes will eradicate or, at best, reduce, a dust emission problem which has plagued the Linden community for several decades. Chinese officials had given two earlier deadlines for the installation of the dust collector, the first being September 2009 and the second, April 2010. Both deadlines passed without any progress being made and officials of the company attributed the lack of progress to financial constraints. This newspaper, which has reported previously on the dust problems facing residents of Linden is also aware of a promise made by the company to the Region Ten Regional Administration that the dust extractor would have been installed by October last year.
The EPA is on record as frowning on the 2009 deadline given by the company, pointing out in response to a letter written to this newspaper that “given the seriousness of the current situation of Linden and the urgent need to address this problem, there should be a revision of the timeline to ensure an earlier installation.” In that letter, the EPA also acknowledged that plans for the revision of the 2009 deadline had been discussed with the company and the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) at a meeting on September 2, 2008 and following a site visit it had been agreed that the timeline would be revised. The letter, signed by EPA Executive Director Doerga Persaud had pointed out that “if the company fails to comply with the recommendations and requirements of the agency, penalties could be instituted in accordance with s[ection] 19 of the Environmental Protection Act No 11 of 1996 and s 14 of the Environmental Protection (Authorizations) Regulations, No 10 of 2000.
“At the very least the EPA is guilty of not utilizing the authority that it has under the law to arrest this situation some years ago,” the source said.
While the dust emission problem at Linden’s bauxite operations predates the arrival of Bosai, the advent of the company has coincided with the setting of higher production targets. More production means higher levels of dust. Higher volumes of dust have reportedly resulted in larger areas of the mining community being affected.
Prior to this week’s comment by environmental source, local authority officials at Linden had been calling on both government and the EPA to take a more robust posture on the dust emission problem.
“People have been sitting on their hands and, frankly, not doing what they are supposed to do,” the source said.
In October 2008, Chairman of the Interim Management Committee of the Linden Town Council Orrin Gordon said he was concerned that no serious investigations had been carried out to determine the health implications of several years of dust emission on the affected population. Arising out of the health concerns raised by Linden officials, Gordon had demanded the setting up of “appropriate laboratory and medical facilities” in Linden which he said should be used “to pursue investigations into the impact of dust emission on the community and to make medical interventions when necessary.”
The EPA source said that when account is taken of the “several commitments given and broken” by BOSAI and the frequent protests by people in Linden, “the EPA has not shown a sufficient sense of urgency about getting Bosai to do what it was supposed to do. There are laws governing these things and there are penalties for not upholding the law. That is why we have an EPA.”
The source pointed out that “even prior to Bosai, the EPA failed to hold Cambior to account for its failure to install a dust extractor. Theoretically at least it could have been made a condition for selling the company to Bosai.”
Commenting on the recent announcement by Bosai that some components for the dust collector had already arrived in the country and the facility should be in place by September the source said that “when everything is taken into account” some people will take the announcement “with a pinch of salt.” The source said the best guarantee we have “has to do with the enforcement of the regulations by the EPA.”
