BT dump protestors deny political affiliation

(CNS): The leaders of the Coalition to Keep BT Dump Free have refuted allegations made by the premier that their activist group is associated with the PPM or any other political party. The leaders say there are no PPM members on the committee and it has not taken any money from the opposition party. The BT Coalition says it is a single issue activist group with cross party support and no political affiliations. The coalition is committed and determined to stop the relocation of the landfill to Bodden Town and is campaigning for government to address the dump aka Mount Trashmore on its current site in the capital.

“In response to coalition demands for answers and documents supporting the relocation of the dump, government hid behind a smokescreen of false promises, scare tactics and outright lies,” said Alain Beiner, one of the coalition’s leaders following last Thursday’s government public meeting in Bodden Town, where the activists protested the government's plans.

“They knowingly lied about the Coalition being controlled by the PPM. Premier Bush, Minister Scotland and BT MLA Seymour are well aware that we’re non-political and completely independent of the PPM.

“While individual members of the PPM may well support the Coalition’s campaign – as do a number of UDP members – the Coalition has nothing to do with the PPM, nor with any political party. There isn’t a single MLA or PPM official on our Coordinating Committee, and the Coalition has not received a penny from the PPM,” Biener added

Gregg Anderson another leading figure in the group said the coalition has equally condemned past and present governments for neglecting the George Town landfill.  “We accepted an invitation to present our position to a PPM public meeting in January and we’d just as readily accept an invitation to speak at a UDP or any public meeting where we can explain why moving the dump to Bodden Town would be disastrous for all of Grand Cayman,” he added.

The coalition members have also pointed to the irony of the accusations made against the protest group of political affiliations. The public meeting was advertised in the local press as a government projects update but the meeting  “…was nothing but a UDP election rally,…” the coalition said.

Speech after speech had attacked the coalition and the PPM, the coalition stated and it also rejected what they called the scare tactics of the environment minister and first elected member for the district Mark Scotland

During his speech he had claimed that government would have to raise import duty to 30% to operate a waste-to-energy facility, and that it would cost ‘over a $100 million’ in capital costs to fix the George Town dump where it is however, the coalition pointed to government’s earlier plans and the Central Tenders Committee (CTC) recommendation to award the waste-to energy contract to Wheelabrator.

“Wasn’t that deal in fact to be financed by Wheelabrator, with operating costs supported by new revenue the sale of energy to CUC, a tipping fee such? Beiner asked rhetorically as he suggested that Bodden Towners may never know the truth and unless government discloses the terms of that deal, and explains why they inexplicably ditched it along with due process, in favour of the Dart proposal.”

The government’s own technical team had rejected the Dart submission and the CTC expressed “great concern” about the impact of a dump in an “environmentally sensitive” area.

The coalition also asked if the running costs for the new waste-management site would come from as Dart has said it won’t be managing the new site.

“If the money will be there then, why not now, and avoid contaminating a new site. In the name of ‘good governance’ and ‘honesty’, government agrees to award a contract for a waste-to-energy facility to fix the George Town dump, it then comes to Bodden Town to denounce our Coalition’s support for that same option, claiming that we can’t afford it, and then promises to add a similar facility at the Bodden Town site,” Vincent Frederick another coalition leader added, as he suggested whatever credibility the government still had on this issue in Bodden Town they now had none.

The coalition members were also sceptical about the promise made by Bush to an organised tour of waste-management facilities in the USA . During his speech Bush had suggested that he would take hundreds of people to see how they work.

However, given the cost of suchan exercise when government claims it’s a lack of funds that is forcing them to move the landfill miles from the source of most waste, and to transform a pristine residential area into heavy industrial use, the coalition said it was unlikely to materialize.

“They even mocked our placards for the few dollars we spent on them,” Frederick added.

“Where will they find the money to pay the travel expenses of a hundred people – in addition of course to their own coterie of ‘experts, tour guides, coaches and spin-masters’? No one was fooled last Thursday by this smokescreen of contradictions. The people of our district still don’t know which government entity decided that the GT dump had to be relocated, who selected Bodden Town as the best site, and on what these decisions were based. These real questions remain unanswered.”