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<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=1 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD><SPAN class=TopStory>Cockpit row boils</SPAN>
</TD></TR><TR><TD>BY KARYL WALKER Observer staff reporter
Friday, December 15, 2006
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<P class=StoryText align=justify>Environmentalists, angered by the Government's granting of an exclusive licence to Alcoa and Clarendon Alumina Production to search for bauxite deposits in the Cockpit Country, yesterday said they were prepared to take their objection to court, and as far as the United Kingdom-based Privy Council if necessary.<P class=StoryText align=justify>At the same time, the environmentalists have called on Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller to intervene in the growing dispute and have vowed to engage in civil disobedience to protest the decision.<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=360 align=center border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description>Jamaica Environment Trust (JET) head Diana McCauley displays a map of the Cockpit Country at yesterday's press conference called by environmentalists to object to the Government's granting of an exclusive prospecting licence to Alcoa and Clarendon Alumina Production to search for bauxite deposits in the Cockpit Country. Beside her is scientist and anti-mining activist Mike Schwartz. (Photo: Bryan Cummings) </SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>"The prime minister needs to get involved. We are outraged," head of the Jamaica Environment Trust (JET), Diana McCaulay, said at a press conference at the JET headquarters on Waterloo Road in St Andrew yesterday. "Have we gone out of our minds that we would go and destroy this repository of biodiversity?"<P class=StoryText align=justify>The environmentalists had earlier stormed out of a National Minerals Policy consultancy meeting at the Jamaica Conference Centre in downtown Kingston after permanent secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands, Donovan Stanberry, announced that the prospecting licence had been granted.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The irate group, among them members of the Cockpit Country Stakeholders Group, and the Farquharson Institute, are threatening to rally the support of the 73,000 residents of the Cockpit Country to join them in civil disobedience to protest against any attempt to disturb the delicate ecological balance in the area.<P class=StoryText align=justify>"We are prepared to go to any lengths to prevent any form of disturbance of the Cockpit Country," said McCauley. "We are going to enlist the help of international environmental organisations to assist us in this campaign."<P class=StoryText align=justify>"We are enlisting the services of international environmental lawyers to see what legal channels we can pursue, and if all else fails, we are prepared to take the matter to the Privy Council,"
McCauley added.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The environmentalists have been arguing that prospecting for ore in the region would contaminate the underground water supply to 12 of the island's major rivers and spell disaster for the tourism industry from Trelawny to Black River in St Elizabeth.
But Agriculture and Lands Minister Roger Clarke yesterday rebutted those claims. Clarke told the Observer that the prospecting licence had been given the blessings of the relevant government agencies and was not a gateway to wholesale mining.<P class=StoryText align=justify>"It is based upon the advice of the National Environment and Planning Agency and the Underground Water Authority. They had no objections," Clarke said. "It will not affect the water or damage the environment. If you follow the environmentalists, you would never mine anything."<P class=StoryText align=justify>Last week, head of the Jamaica Bauxite Institute, Parris Lyew-Ayee, had said that the Government had no plans to allow mining in
</TD></TR><TR><TD>BY KARYL WALKER Observer staff reporter
Friday, December 15, 2006
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<P class=StoryText align=justify>Environmentalists, angered by the Government's granting of an exclusive licence to Alcoa and Clarendon Alumina Production to search for bauxite deposits in the Cockpit Country, yesterday said they were prepared to take their objection to court, and as far as the United Kingdom-based Privy Council if necessary.<P class=StoryText align=justify>At the same time, the environmentalists have called on Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller to intervene in the growing dispute and have vowed to engage in civil disobedience to protest the decision.<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=360 align=center border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description>Jamaica Environment Trust (JET) head Diana McCauley displays a map of the Cockpit Country at yesterday's press conference called by environmentalists to object to the Government's granting of an exclusive prospecting licence to Alcoa and Clarendon Alumina Production to search for bauxite deposits in the Cockpit Country. Beside her is scientist and anti-mining activist Mike Schwartz. (Photo: Bryan Cummings) </SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>"The prime minister needs to get involved. We are outraged," head of the Jamaica Environment Trust (JET), Diana McCaulay, said at a press conference at the JET headquarters on Waterloo Road in St Andrew yesterday. "Have we gone out of our minds that we would go and destroy this repository of biodiversity?"<P class=StoryText align=justify>The environmentalists had earlier stormed out of a National Minerals Policy consultancy meeting at the Jamaica Conference Centre in downtown Kingston after permanent secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands, Donovan Stanberry, announced that the prospecting licence had been granted.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The irate group, among them members of the Cockpit Country Stakeholders Group, and the Farquharson Institute, are threatening to rally the support of the 73,000 residents of the Cockpit Country to join them in civil disobedience to protest against any attempt to disturb the delicate ecological balance in the area.<P class=StoryText align=justify>"We are prepared to go to any lengths to prevent any form of disturbance of the Cockpit Country," said McCauley. "We are going to enlist the help of international environmental organisations to assist us in this campaign."<P class=StoryText align=justify>"We are enlisting the services of international environmental lawyers to see what legal channels we can pursue, and if all else fails, we are prepared to take the matter to the Privy Council," McCauley added.<P class=StoryText align=justify>The environmentalists have been arguing that prospecting for ore in the region would contaminate the underground water supply to 12 of the island's major rivers and spell disaster for the tourism industry from Trelawny to Black River in St Elizabeth.
But Agriculture and Lands Minister Roger Clarke yesterday rebutted those claims. Clarke told the Observer that the prospecting licence had been given the blessings of the relevant government agencies and was not a gateway to wholesale mining.<P class=StoryText align=justify>"It is based upon the advice of the National Environment and Planning Agency and the Underground Water Authority. They had no objections," Clarke said. "It will not affect the water or damage the environment. If you follow the environmentalists, you would never mine anything."<P class=StoryText align=justify>Last week, head of the Jamaica Bauxite Institute, Parris Lyew-Ayee, had said that the Government had no plans to allow mining in