Damage control

An agreement between Jamaica’s environmental regulator and a private company, which ended a criminal prosecution over an oil spill in the Rio Cobre, is expected to be released to the public today, according to a senior official in the Holness administration.

The official indicated that persons who reviewed the matter were surprised that a non-disclosure clause was included in the agreement, especially based on the circumstance and nature of the issue.

“The NDA was unnecessary. The agreement and associated documents will be released on Friday (today),” said the official, who was not authorised to speak on the issue.

The comments came as the board of the Natural Resources Conservation Authority (NRCA), on Thursday, distanced itself from a decision made by its executive to strike a confidential agreement with Trade Winds Citrus Limited that also ended criminal prosecution against the company for the oil spill.

The incident, which occurred in December 2023 and crippled fishing communities in the parish, drew national attention and outrage.

Chairman of the NRCA board Weldon Maddan told The Gleaner when contacted that he did not have “any recollection” of the decision being made by the board.

“I have no recollection of it,” he asserted more than once.

Further, Maddan said he was indifferent about the development, which became public during a court hearing on Wednesday, noting that he had not yet received a briefing.

“I have no reason to be concerned other than the fact that it is something that is in the public. The board will be apprised, and the executive will take some action,” he said.

Additionally, he said portfolio minister for environment Prime Minister Andrew Holness and Matthew Samuda, minister of without portfolio, have had no involvement, so far, in the matter.

The issue came to light in the St Catherine Parish Court on Wednesday when an attorney from the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) informed presiding Judge Yvette Wenthworth-Miller that the regulator, the NRCA, had reached a settlement with Trade Winds Citrus Limited and wanted to discontinue the case.

When Wenthworth-Miller requested the agreement for the court’s scrutiny, the lawyer told her that it was confidential.

The NEPA is the technical and enforcement arm of the NRCA, which got permission from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions to prosecute the matter.

Trade Winds, a juice-making firm, was charged with breaches of the Wild Life Protection Act following an oil spill on December 11, 2023. The company owns the Jamaica Beverage Plant from which the oil was emitted.

In a media statement following the incident, the NEPA said its investigations found that the oil spill in the Bog Walk area was coming from a malfunctioning boiler from the old Jamaica Beverage Plant.

On Thursday, two environmental groups expressed outrage at NEPA’s decision to withdraw criminal charges against the private company.

Environmental groups, the Jamaica Environment Trust (JET) and Friends of Rio Cobre, have responded to the development saying that “the decision sets a dangerous precedent that trivialises environmental violations and prioritises corporate interests over the health of natural resources and justice for impacted Jamaicans”.

Friends of Rio Cobre said it intends to file a civil suit against Trade Winds Citrus Limited.

The two groups said the decision to withdraw the charges entirely, without explanation or transparency, was incomprehensible.

“This is a betrayal of the people NEPA is supposed to protect,” said Dr Theresa Rodriguez-Moodie, CEO of JET. “Why would NEPA abandon criminal charges when the evidence was clear? This lack of transparency erodes public trust and sends a message that polluters can negotiate their way out of accountability.”

Meanwhile, Kestonard Gordon of Friends of the Rio Cobre said: “We are shocked and disappointed. NEPA owes the public answers. What are the terms of this secret settlement, and why were the charges dropped? This decision undermines justice and leaves the community to suffer the consequences of pollution of a major river.”

Gordon told The Gleaner that Friends of the Rio Cobre remained undeterred.

“When we estimated the damages, it was almost $12 million that would remedy the losses and inconvenience suffered by the residents, most of whom depend on the Rio Cobre for a livelihood,” he said.

Gordon, who is also the vice-chairman for the parish development committee in St Catherine, said attorneys-at-law Dr Marcus Goffe and Charles Ganga-Singh had been instructed to seek damages on behalf of the aggrieved residents.

In the meantime, the opposition People’s National Party is demanding public disclosure of the reasons for the discontinuation of prosecution.

In a media release on Thursday, Shadow Spokesperson for Environment and Ecological Heritage Sophia Frazer Binns said the Opposition was troubled by the development.

“We are deeply concerned that the basis of the decision remains unknown, especially to the residents of the Bog Walk community who were directly affected by the pollution of the river. We also wish to ascertain whether the citizens whose rights were directly affected were consulted before the agreement with the company was made by NRCA/NEPA,” she said.

Frazer Binns argued that transparency and good governance demand that the agreement be shared with the public and particularly with the affected residents.

The Opposition said the outcome to the prosecution and the cloak of confidentiality over the agreement made between the company and the NEPA raise serious questions about the message of impunity being sent to persons whose “aberrant practices contribute” to the destruction of the environment.

editorial@gleanerjm.com

What JET and Friends of Rio Cobre want from the Gov’t:

• Release the terms of the purported settlement and NEPA’s reasons for discontinuing the case. Strengthen environmental laws: Ensure stricter penalties for polluters and mandate full transparency in environmental cases.

• Reform NEPA’s oversight role: Conduct a thorough review of NEPA’s decision-making and enforcement processes to restore public trust. Additionally, request that the director of public prosecutions discontinue giving orders (granting fiats) to NEPA for prosecuting environmental crimes.

• Guarantee accountability: Ensure that environmental violations are prosecuted with the seriousness they deserve and any settlements are publicly disclosed.