The Linden-based Bosai Minerals Group (Guyana) Inc. has been fined $1 million by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for waste waterdischarges from its tailings pond into the Kara Kara Creek.
The company was also forced to immediately cease operations and has been working with the EPA to “fix the problem so that it does not reoccur,” EPA Executive Director Dr. Vincent Adams told the Stabroek News.
Stabroek News made repeated attempts to contact the company but calls and emails went unanswered.
However, sources told this newspaper that the company was summoned to the EPA on December 24th, when it was fined and directed to immediately stop the discharges even if it meant shutting down its operations.
Bosai has since complied with the EPA’s directive by ceasing the operations that produce the waste water. However, there remains some discharge into the creek due to rainfall and the inadequate holding capacity of the tailings pond.
Adams confirmed that complaints were made to the agency by a member of the public. He said that it was lodged on November 22nd 2019, and the agency immediately started investigating.
“…Two investigations began; one on the 27th and the other on the 29th,
from the EPA offices here in Linden and Georgetown, respectively.
“The checks revealed that the complaints were valid; that is there were discharges into the creek. The water was discoloured and the turbidity was very high. The material is not toxic but it’s the physical impairment issue.
Besides the aesthetics, living things in the creek need oxygen to survive and this was a hindrance to that,” he explained.
A source told this newspaper that it was an overflow problem due to heavy rainfall as the tailings pond didn’t have the capacity for certain amounts of liquids.
“What we normally do is wash the bauxite and it’s that water which is channelled into a tailings area. In that tailings area they also dispose [from] the air filtration system, that is the dust, so the dust is disposed into the tailings. Especially when it rains, you would have an overload and then that is discharged into the Kara Kara, which flows into the Demerara River,” the source explained.
When Adams was asked if the agency had an idea of how long there had been discharges, he said that they were unsure as it was only when the report was made that the agency investigated.
The company was called in and Adams said that Bosai admitted that it knew of the problem and was working on fixing it. “They admitted that they knew there was a problem and are cooperating fully,” he said.
On 24th December, the company was officially slapped with the maximum fine, even as Adams once again lamented how paltry it is. “We issued them a letter with a fixed penalty or a fine of $1,066,000, which is the maximum we can impose for polluting the environment,” he said.
Checks by this newspaper found that the company had indeed ceased operations but employees explained that it was because of the Christmas holiday break.
Nonetheless, engineering work was being done on the tailings pond to rectify the problem.
Adams said that a team, of which he would be a part, would be visiting soon.
“We will be visiting and they must present their engineered constructionmodification to show how they will permanently prevent this from happening,” he said.
“We don’t want their monies for fines to help the agency financially, we want all companies and persons to do the right thing. Keep the money you would pay in the event of fines and just be careful. Do not pollute, that is all we ask,” he added.
The public eye
To the person that complained, Adams expressed gratitude, even as he encouraged more public to vigilance.
“I would like to express, on behalf of this entire agency, our appreciation and thanks for the public vigilance. We can’t be on every square inch of the
country, so the more people joining in looking out and call in and report what they see it, would help us in our mission in protecting the environment,” he said.
“That is why we appreciate the public calling in. in this specific case we now have an office in Linden and we expect to have an office in every region by the end of 2020,” he added.
It is because the agency wants the public to feel free and have access to it that an entire department for receiving complaints was recently set up.
It draws on a similar set up and its success during Adams’ time at the United States Department of Energy, where he worked for decades.
He said,” We have set up an entire complaints department. We wanted to do it sooner but did not have the required personnel or resources. We still don’t have all we need at the present time but are very encouraged by the support
from Cabinet and confident that we will get what we asked for in the nextbudget. This department will receive and process complaints in a very structured manner. Callers or writers can make their complaints and don’t have to give their names if they don’t want to. If they don’t feel comfortable in giving their names, then don’t. We don’t want to know the complainant, we want to know where the problem is. A lot of the times it is the people calling in who are impacted, so we don’t want them to be exposed.
It will be directed to the officer and it is tracked all the way to completion, in a timely manner.”
“This is just a small department but it mirrors in some ways what I was used to at the US Department of Energy. There was a hotline where even employees could call and report to the inspector general office, which was independent of the agency. This setting up of a complaint unit at the EPA would help us
to monitor what is going on out there. We are asking the public to help us in this fight. As we build capacity and the agency gets budgets for what we need, we will be able to do more but will always need that public eye,” he added.
