The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has transported hurricane-related wood debris to Body Slob in St. Croix, which is located near several schools and residences.
The Virgin Island Conservation Society, the Island Green Living Association and the Sierra Club have issued a notice of intent asserting that they will sue the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency, as well as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, to prevent large-scale burning of debris on the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Hurricanes Irma and Maria left widespread refuse on the Caribbean island, one of the 17 remaining colonies in the world according to the U.N.’s Special Committee on Decolonization.
The notice emphasized that planned burning of hurricane-related waste in incinerators poses an imminent and substantial health and environmental hazard. Such a move and its foreseen results are in direct contravention of Section 7002 of the island’s Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, according to Caribbean News Now.
Case in point, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, acting on behalf of directives established by FEMA, has transported hurricane-related wood debris to Body Slob in St. Croix, which is located near several schools and residences. It’s from this location, utilizing an open and uncontrolled air curtain incinerator, that the Army Corps intend to burn some 400,000 cubic yards of waste, despite a sustainable debris management plan submitted by local residents, environmentalists and others.
“We have a green governor. However the Army Corp of Engineers has presented less than accurate information that is biased toward incineration in order to influence the governor,” said the Island Green Living Association president, Harith Wickrema.
He added that if the territory agrees with the burning “the Army Corp of Engineers and FEMA have agreed to cover all costs, even after six months. The same provision is not extended if the territory uses sustainable measures such as composting/mulching despite similar costs.”
