Letter of the Day | NEPA assures public, but denies access to information

The EDITOR, Madam:

Recently, the Jamaica Environment Trust (JET) wrote in this newspaper about challenges with receiving environmental information through the Access to Information (ATI) Act. Since then, we received two responses to our five ATI requests from the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA). One of those responses was a denial of information to JET’s request for water-quality results following a report of a pollution incident in the Rio Cobre in May 2023. Below is the sequence of events:

• Friday May 12, 2023, a report of another pollution incident in the Rio Cobre, in the vicinity of Zephyrton, St Catherine, was made to NEPA. The agency sent a team to investigate the matter and on Sunday, May 14, it issued a statement saying that its technical team conducted “assessments” along the entire river. The statement also said that no “physical evidence of pollutants” was found and there was no impact on the river ecosystems.

• May 19, 2023, JET wrote to NEPA asking for further details on the nature of the ‘assessment conducted’. We wanted to know more about the samples collected, how many, where, what parameters were tested, were they done in situ or analysed in a lab? If no samples were collected, why not and what then did they use to determine that there was “physical evidence of pollutants”. No response was received.

• On May 25, 2023, JET submitted an ATI request to NEPA for the results of water-quality tests and/or assessments of the Rio Cobre. Almost three months after the initial ATI request and a request for internal review, NEPA responded on August 17, 2023 denying the release of the information on the grounds that they were exempt documents as per Section 16 subsection (b) of the ATI Act as they were the subject of an ongoing investigation, which could be prejudicial to that investigation.

How could NEPA assure the public that there was no contamination of the river if the matter was still under investigation? The river is still being used for domestic and recreational purposes. Why should the public not receive a copy of the water-quality results if there is no contamination? In whose interests is NEPA acting?

THE JAMAICA

ENVIRONMENT TRUST