Petition launched to protect Dry Harbour Mountain
Published:Sunday | November 15, 2020 | 2:56 PM
A petition has been launched calling for Prime Minister Andrew Holness to reverse the July 2020 ministerial decision to approve a permit for quarrying and mining at Dry Harbour Mountain, also called Puerto Bueno Mountain, in St Ann.
The petition, launched a few hours ago by Wendy Lee on change.org, urges Holness to, among other things, "engage local stakeholders in a meaningful process to see this unique limestone forest ecosystem protected and managed as a habitat conservation and research area for indigenous and endemic flora and fauna".
Earlier this week, the Holness administration announced that is was sticking to its decision to permit mining in the ecologically sensitive Puerto Bueno Mountain, in the tourism-dependent parish on Jamaica's northern coast.
Holness insisted that the Government has made an “enlightened” decision in confronting the need for economic growth while ensuring sustainable development, especially in a pandemic that has claimed jobs and much-needed revenues.
Holness did not give explicit reasons about why he signed off on a recommendation in July to overturn the National Environment and Planning Agency's (NEPA) decision not to grant Bengal Development Limited a permit to mine the area, home to endangered and endemic species.
But it was clear that the initially projected $635 million in taxes and up to 100 jobs weighed heavily on the decision to discard NEPA's May 2020 verdict.
The petition also argued that the project would have deleterious impacts on the environment of surrounding areas, air quality, public health, the hydrology, and the forested area, and would devastate existing and future tourism enterprises in the area, including resort villas with employees.
Criticisms that the Government was prioritising economic and private interests to the detriment of the environment have been upsetting, Holness charged.
'It hurts me deeply when people say that."
So far, 183 persons have signed the petition.
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