Environmental Audit CommitteeWritten evidence submitted by Edison Baird
On the 25th March 2013, Ms. Joan Walley MP, Chair of the Environmental Audit Committee, wrote to the then Governor of Anguilla, Mr Alistair Harrison, in part:
Although the environment is a devolved matter, our Committee is keen to explore whether the UK Government is providing enough support to the Overseas Territories and fulfilling its international obligations concerning the environment and biodiversity.
A key part of our evidence gathering will be to seek the views of the territories themselves.
It is against this backdrop that I write to the Environmental Audit Committee to avert a potential environmental disaster in respect of the Road Salt Pond, an important bird area (IBA). The Government of Anguilla intends to approve a salt works project for this pond that would undoubtedly give rise to a host of environmental difficulties.
The proposed Road Bay salt works project will include extensive engineering works that will exclude the inflow of fresh water, the building of walls to subdivide the pond and facilitate the inflow of seawater. I believe that this proposal will cause irreparable damage to the pond, its bird interest and will cause extensive damage to the village of Sandy Ground which is located on a sand bar.
The Road Bay Salt Pond plays a critical role in the flight path of birds from the American east coast on their way to South America when winter sets in. This pond acts as a resting, breathing and feeding area for these migrant and other birds. The salt works project will disrupt and eventually destroy the pond as a way station.
The British Government is fully aware, too, of the weak legal instruments to protect the environment in Anguilla, in general, and the Road Bay Salt Pond, and the Village, in particular.
For example, the Biodiversity and Heritage Act was enacted in 2009. One of its main objectives was to protect wild, and endangered birds and their habitat. This Law, however, affords no legal protection to the Road Bay Salt Pond and its birds as no regulation exists. This Act, to put it bluntly, is toothless.
On the 20th September 2001, in order to provide environmental protection for Anguilla, the UK Government and the Anguilla Government signed the Environment Charter for the Overseas Territories. This is regularly ignored by the Hubert Hughes Government. Several Memorandum of Understandings have been signed in defiance of the Charter which clearly states that Anguilla must ensure that environmental impact assessments are undertaken before approving major projects and while developing our growth management strategies.
It is said that an Environment impact Assessment (EIA) has been done in respect of the Road Bay salt works project. If this is true, it is clear that it has not been discussed with the Anguillan people, especially those living in the village of Sandy Ground, a vulnerable area.
Sandy Ground village is a sand bar that lies between the Road Salt Pond to its east and the sea to its west. The pond is connected to the sea by a canal. In 1999, Hurricane Lenny struck Anguilla. The pond overflowed and caused extensive damage to the sand bar and village. The horror of this event was captured in a flood study done by Hallcrow Water, a British Company. The study was entitled Department for International Development Anguilla Drainage Study Final Report, August 2000. The study stated:
If the sand bar is overtopped then a breach will normally form and the rapid release of water from the pond can pose a significant risk to life for any inhabitants living at the position of the breach. The breach channel formed during Lenny (1999) occurred away from residential properties, but there is no guarantee that the inhabitants would be so lucky in the course of the next hurricane.
Despite this obvious threat to the environment and the village of Sandy Ground and its inhabitants, the Chief Minister, the other Ministers and the Parliamentary Secretary show little or no regard for following procedure and rules as they relate to the environment. On the 20th February 2013, the Land Development Control Committee met to discuss the proposed salt works project. Uninvited, the Chief Minister and the Parliamentary Secretary, Mr Hadyn Hughes, barged into the room, disrupted the meeting, making it clear that the salt works project was good for Anguilla and there was no need for an EIA study. They accused certain members of the committee of holding up progress. The meeting became chaotic.
As the Elected Representative of the Road North Constituency in which the Road Salt pond is located, I was shocked when, on the 20th December 2011, in the Anguilla House of Assembly, the said Parliamentary Secretary stated that there was no need for an EIA. He said the salt works project was good for Anguilla. He made use of the following words:
God made seawater, God caused the condensation, and God caused the salt to be formed and people went and take out the salt. So tell me, how is that detriment to the Sandy Ground Salt Pond or the surrounding area? You are not putting any chemicals in it, you are not digging any holes, you are not mining. So where is it, so why is it so important to do environmental impact assessment for the Sandy Ground Salt Pond?
In conclusion, I ask the following of the British Government:
1.
2.
3.
I am hopeful too, that the British Government will take seriously its international responsibility to protect the environment in Anguilla—a British Overseas Territory.
10 September 2013`