A planned public hearing by the Environmental Assess-ment Bureau (EAB) to ascertain the impact of a BK International sand mine planned for Yarrowkabra on the nearby Bulkan’s Timber Works had to be postponed yesterday after a mix up over the venue.
Bulkan’s Timber Works had written to the Environ-mental Protection Agency (EPA) complaining that BK’s planned sand mine next to its operations was going to cause disruptions in the manufacturing processing and threaten the health and safety of workers. As a result, the EPA announced a hearing scheduled for yesterday.
When Stabroek News arrived at the Yarrowkabra Training Centre, which was the advertised venue for the meeting, there was a large gathering, including persons from the community, representatives of Bulkan’s Timber Works, loggers from Linden and personnel from the Guyana Forestry Commission, but no officials from the EPA, who were sitting somewhere else wondering why no one else had turned up.
Eventually after the EPA officials arrived at the training centre, which was locked up and from all indications was last opened some years back, no one seemed to know where the key was.
After standing around for a while, officials from the EPA, the Region Four regional administration as well as from BK International and Bulkan’s Timber Works began to discuss their options for the meeting.
At that point, Chairman of the EAB Veetal Rajkumar said the EPA must republish the advertisement in the media and then wait for 14 days before the new meeting could be convened. “I must apologise for the miscommunication,” he said.
Speaking to this newspaper, Howard Bulkan of Bulkan’s Timber Works said it was most distressing that the meeting had to be postponed. “The villagers came out to support us,” he said. “They came from Linden, Kwakwani and as far as Waraputa only to be told that it would be at another time,” he said. “The [EPA] said that by law they need 14 days…we will prepare and whenever they fix a date we will be prepared,” said Bulkan.
Asked for a comment on the postponement of the meeting, Brian Tiwari of BK International said that his company was prepared and ready to answer all of the questions regarding the planned sand mine. But he said Bulkan must say whether his business has an environmental permit since residents in the area complained about dust pollution. One woman who was at Yarrowkabra yesterday said that she and her children had to move from their home because of dust pollution from Bulkan’s operation.
However, Bulkan explain-ed that his business is located in an industrial area and so anyone who is affected from the operations is probably squatting on the property.
In a letter to Executive Director of the EPA Dr Indarjit Ramdass, Bulkan’s Timber Works and Superior Shingles and Wood Products through attorney RN Poonai raised concerns about the safety of workers and equipment and the effects on persons who depend on these companies for a living.
“The proposed project site borders the old glass factory at Yarrowkabra out of which the above mentioned companies operate. This compound contains many old, tall steel structures (water towers, rusting building frames, silos, etc) given the nature of the previous manufacturing entity that operated here. My clients engaged the opinion of an engineer who advised that based on the angle of repose of sand and the consistent volumes of rainfall that occur in this area, the minimum safe distance that the edge of the sand mine should start is two and a half times the distance of the intended depth of the mine away from the any given point in the compound of my clients,” said the letter from Poonai. “Given the physical properties of sand, my clients are very concerned about the safety of their approximately 100 employees should any of these structures become undermined and collapse,” the lawyer added.
The letter also raised concerns of possible damage to highly expensive and sensitive wood working equipment and of the adverse effects of sand particles blowing into the factories, on the manufacturing process and the products.
It was also pointed out that members of the Yarrowkabra Charcoal Burners Association – an organisation comprising mostly single mothers – rely on the free raw material provided by Superior Shingles and Wood Products to earn a living. “The granting of a permit to mine sand has the real potential to put these women out of work and I believe their concerns should be addressed…,” Poonai said.
Speaking to this newspaper last Friday, Tiwari said he saw no problem with Bulkan’s Timber Works since the sand mine operation will be located some 2,000 feet away. He said he believed the company is just out to create mischief.
