EMA board must resign

Panday on smelter judgment
Monday, June 22nd 2009
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_news?id=161494710

The Board of the Environmental Management Authority (EMA) must resign in the face of the judgment from Justice Mira Dean-Armorer in the Alutrint Smelter judicial review case, Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday says.

"This judgment is a very powerful indictment against the conduct of the EMA and in particular the board of the EMA. The criticisms made by the judge are almost identical to the statements of the judge in the Integrity Commission matter which saw the board of the Integrity Commission resigning. The EMA board should do the same as the former Integrity Commission and step down," Panday said in a release.

Panday noted that Dean-Armorer, in her judgement, stated that the EMA violated the Environmental Management Act and the EMA's decision was procedurally irregular, irrational and made without proper consideration of all the relevant factors. "Is it that the EMA acted with gross and wanton negligence in such a serious matter? Or is it that the EMA acted under political pressure from the Government? Those are the only two scenarios that can explain such conduct from the EMA and neither is acceptable," Panday said. He asserted that the EMA board must be resilient and strong enough to be independent and not buckle under political pressure or any other influence, and it must be competent in its function, especially where we are talking about approval for such a hazardous operation as a smelter plant. Panday said the court judgment had cast suspicion on the conduct of the EMA in all of its affairs, and if the current board remains, it would further undermine confidence in the EMA, similar to the loss of confidence in the Integrity Commission and Office of the President, as is currently being seen. "The question now arises, if the EMA can be so grossly negligent or incompetent in its evaluation of the smelter project, or if it has acted in bad faith as the judgment also suggests, what guarantees do the public have that similar approaches have not been taken with regard to other applications for environmental clearance coming before it?" Panday asked. Meanwhile, the COP Youth Congress, also in a release, issued a call for the EMA to account for its procedurally irregular and irrational actions. The COP wants the EMA to answer why it granted Alutrint clearance when there was evidently an irreversible and precarious threat to the environment by constructing the smelter, and also knowing that the smelter would pose a definite risk to human health.