A number of women living at Yarrowkabra are appealing to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) not to allow BK International’s planned sand mine there since it could jeopardise their cottage industry of coal burning upon which they depend for their livelihood.
The women get the material for their coal burning from Bulkan’s Timber Works and Superior Shingle and Wood Products and they fear if these businesses close as a result of the BK International sand mine, it would also see them shuttering their operations.
At a meeting of the Community Development Council (CDC) of Yarrowkabra on Sunday, the members of the Yarrowkabra Charcoal Burners Association came out in their numbers to voice concern about their future.
In addition, they said that notwithstanding the risks BK International represent to the Bulkan businesses, the area should be used for industries and not for mining.
Speaking with Stabroek News, Althea Peters, the Vice President of the Yarrowkabra Coal Burning Association, said that any closure of Bulkan’s businesses will certainly have an ill effect on her and the other women.
“We are single parents and this is what we depend on to send our children to school and upkeep our homes,” said Peters, who got into the industry four years ago. She said that she has one son and he goes to Kuru Kuru Primary School.
Peters said that there are some women in the area who have children writing examinations and it would be very difficult for them.
Speaking at the meeting, resident Colwyn King said that the women must be proactive in bringing their concerns to the fore. He urged that they make use of the avenues of the media to get their stories out, since their livelihoods are at stake.
Shondell King, another of the members of the Association, said that she and the others were worried as to what the EPA’s decision could spell for them.
Resident Michael Carrington said that there should be cottage industries in Yarrowkabra to help the community to develop. He said that there is no need for a sand mine in Yarrowkabra.
In a letter to the EAB, Yarrowkabra CDC Chairman Lloyd Wilson said that granting BK International a licence to operate a sand pit in the area will be devastating to the community of Yarrowkabra. “So it is with one voice that the residents oppose the granting of a licence to operate a sand pit in the aforementioned area,” he said.
Wilson said that it is likely that the reservoir that supplies the community with potable water is common to the well in the area of the proposed sand pit “hence our potable water will be threatened.”
He said too that the destruction of the road and the highway is likely to occur and “like all other sand pits along the highway the memory will be another gaping hole.”
The Environmental Assessment Bureau in a letter to the EPA said that it had decided to uphold the latter’s decision that an environmental study was not necessary for the project since it would not significantly affect the environment.
