St. Maarten Private Eye

Today July 24, 2008 the dump is on fire once again (it has been smouldering for a while now but this morning a big fire has erupted again) putting a thick blanket of toxic fumes over Illidge Road, Philipsburg, Bush Road, Hospital and probably going into Colebay as well....

Does SVB cover lung cancer treatment?

Is the wall that was supposed to be constructed at the Dump to "keep out fire-starting scavengers for now" under construction as yet?

Or did the whole Telem/Sky is the Limit debacle kept the Head of Maintenance at ROB to busy to focus on the job he's getting paid for?

Let's start moving already!

http://news.caribseek.com/Sint_Maarten/The_Daily_Herald/article_66239.shtml

I saw it smoldering yesterday too, in fact most days there is some smoke coming from somewhere. I also saw it smoldering the day before the last big fire too. They can blame it on scavengers all they like, in my opinion it's often just plain neglect, leaving the small fires to burn and then surprise, it's a big one! Duh!

Flipper

read this article on smn-news.
Headlines say:

Toxic Explosives Causes Fire on Dump
--- Civil Case Filed Against Government--- Blame Placed on Illegal Immigrants—French/ Dutch Cooperation a Farce ---Theo

Toxic Explosives Causes Fire on Dump - 24th July 2008

Landfill petition gets 200-plus signatures - 11th July 2008

yea, read and weep!

Toxic Explosives Causes Fire on Dump
--- Civil Case Filed Against Government--- Blame Placed on Illegal Immigrants—French/ Dutch Cooperation a Farce ---Theo

A look at the dump yesterday while burning.

Philipsburg: ---- The Philipsburg “illegal” dumpsite has been on fire since early yesterday morning and residents claim that the constant fire at the dump is caused by explosives and toxic chemicals which are not properly disposed of. One resident who is asthmatic said that she has been monitoring the dump for the past few weeks and one of the things she realized is that when the days are very hot as is these past days the dump would begin burning. The elderly woman said that there is quite a bit of toxic as well as hazardous materials which are dumped on the open space on the Pondfill. “Nowhere in the world there is a dumpsite on an open plot of land and in the middle of town.” She further explained that while the scavengers are blamed for lighting the fires the dump is not properly managed since there is only one man sitting at the entrance of the dump, while there is a big open entrance at the back which has absolutely no supervision.

Research by this media house shows that the dump which the island calls a sanitary landfill has no hindrance permit for its mere existence. With a permit there should have been regulations in place to manage the land fill in such a way that the negative impacts for the neighboring residents as well as the air and pond are minimal. Regulations should have been in place such as a proper lining (it is still not clear if there is any) of the dump to prevent further leaching into the Pond (which water is connected to Great Bay), sorting and separation of waste to prevent too much mixing of hazardous waste, recycling of certain waste to prevent excessive dumping, proper access for the fire department, a weighing system, covering waste in a certain time frame, adequate supervision to prevent unauthorized persons to enter the land fill and working on car parts, ban on car wrecks since there is a shredder on island, monitoring of the air and water quality .

Some time ago the fire department made a report on the dump fires on request of former prosecutor Paul Mooij and they made a proposal to take action. In that report it was clearly outlined that the dump has to be properly supervised since there are too many persons on the dump who are taking away items for resale. Another recommendation was that there should be no mixing of waste. The fire department also mentioned that there is no fire hydrant nearby and this prevents them from extinguishing the flames in a timely manner. The fire department concluded that if the dump was properly managed and supervised then the fires can be reduced.

This action apparently never happened or not communicated. It must be clear that these regulations must be seen separately from the new efforts to attract a waste plant. Just like the lack of zoning since 1973, the several governments of St. Maarten have constantly ignored the importance of the Hindrance Ordinance of 1963 while this was meant to protect the residents and the island’s natural beauty.

One of the sources made clear that the landfill fires are caused by manmade fires but also caused by a lot of methane that is being emitted by the compressed organic waste. Methane is also considered an important contributor to global warming. Methane is responsible for nearly as much global warming as all other non-CO2 greenhouse gases put together. Methane is 21 times more powerful a greenhouse gas than CO2 according to Earthsave.org. With the incomplete burning of all kind of hazardous waste it is internationally confirmed that the smoke is toxic and can cause serious health problems and even cancer.

“A fire in a landfill in northern Greece last year released large quantities of dioxins from unprocessed and toxic garbage, including hospital waste, polluting air and water.

Dozens of nearby cattle and crop farms were forced to close because their animals and plants had absorbed dioxins, which have been linked to birth defects and brain damage” according to a press release by Planetark. According to this article the dump was 10 km away from the city and they were lucky enough that government could measure the toxic smoke. Here we can not even measure the air quality so how can one adequately warn the residents?

"The largest use of PVC is in building materials such as cables, window frames, doors, walls, and paneling, water and wastewater pipes. It is also used in home products - such as PVC flooring, PVC wallpaper, window blinds and shower curtains.

PVC is used for consumer articles such as credit cards, records imitation leather, garden furniture and toys. It is also used in the office for furniture, binders, folders, and pens. The car industry uses PVC, especially as under seal, and it can be found in hospitals for medical disposables, and as cable and wire insulation.

PVC is one of the world's largest dioxin sources. This group of chemicals is some of the most toxic chemicals ever released into the environment. Dioxins are created when PVC plastic is burned in incinerators, household stoves, open rubbish (trash) burning, and accidental fires in buildings and vehicles. Dioxins are created during the manufacture of PVC so that production wastes are rich with dioxins and other highly toxic contaminants" according research by Greenpeace.

SMN News understands that certain environmental groups have filed a civil lawsuit against the island government. This lawsuit SMN News understands stemmed from the online petition which began some weeks ago when the fire on the dump became more consistent.

In an invited comment President of the Caribbean Foundation for Sustainability Paul Mooij said that it is a shame that the fires on the dump are there this long at the expense of the health of the residents.
The Caribbean Foundation for Sustainability is considering filing a complaint at the police station and the prosecutor's office to prosecute the island government for having an illegal dump that poses a serious health hazard to a growing number of residents due to the continuing fires with toxic smoke. This in support of the civil court case. Mooij said the Lt. Governor and ROB department were warned in the past and they are fully aware of the situation but for some reason this issue, even after a proposal from the Fire Department to tackle this issue was never considered a top priority for government. He said government has a very important exemplary role for the community to adhere to = unfortunately scarce and outdated= environmental regulations that are put in place by the same government to protect the health and quality of life of the community.

Commissioner of Environmental Affairs Theo Heyliger

In an invited comment Commissioner of Environmental Affairs Theo Heyliger said that this is a problem he has been dealing with since he took office but the problem he said continues to persist. He explained that because of government bureaucracy certain procedures had to be followed and finally they were able to go through a bidding process where 20 companies responded to deal with the future of the dump. He said he already traveled to Paris and other places to find a solutions, one such solution is composting.

Heyliger said that one of the main nuisances at the dump is the amount of illegal immigrants who are lighting the fires on the dump so that they can get copper from the cables that are dumped there. The commissioner said that the matter cannot be dealt solely by the island government, but felt that the immigration and police department has to begin executing their duties if they are to stop the fires.

Heyliger said that even though the lifespan of the dump is nearing its end, the solution will not only take time but it would become a very costly project for the people of St. Maarten. “Right now the dump cost just about 1.5 million guilders to maintain but in the new setting the price tag would be in the range of 15 to 20 million guilders.” Heyliger said. One of the proposals the island government is looking towards in turning the waste into energy which he said would benefit the island in two folds. “Doing this would reduce the cost of electricity by 50% and garbage will be properly disposed of.”
However, the commissioner is hoping for management of GEBE to cooperate with him since this is not about one company, instead it is something for the entire population. Heyliger said that when trying to assist each other in their challenges then more can be achieved to the people’s benefit.
He said that the residents of St. Maarten have to join hands to combat the problem because people are mixing materials when dumping and this is indeed hazardous.

However, he felt that it would take an entire generation to teach the people about recycling before proper waste disposal can be achieved. Commissioner Heyliger also admitted that he has lost quite sometime trying to join hands with the French side to find a solution for waste management. He said he was quite disappointed when he read in the newspapers that the French side went ahead and signed a five year contract with another company to manage their waste. “For me I have lost lots of time and money with the French side” He said he already notified the President of the Collectivity about the farce cooperation they are having since the months of negotiation has gone to naught.

Heyliger said he had even agreed to abide to all the European regulations to manage the garbage from both sides even though that comes with a substantial cost. He said that even though there is a lot of talks the two sides are not working together. Heyliger gave an example for the price of water on the French side which is way higher than the Dutch side and felt that if the two sides had done their water production together there would have been major savings to both side residents. He also spoke of harbor project the French side is planning while they on the Dutch side are busy expanding its harbor. This he said goes to show while there maybe constitutional changes on both sides the leaders are not working in the best interest of the people.

I have added the link to the petition in the blog post so it will appear just below the link to the video you shot of the fire. I think I was listening to the same radio station at the time too, lol.

Perhaps this petition can be added to the residents case in the courts. I encourage everyone to sign it, your health is not political, it's a human right that your government is required to ensure as best it can. Someone is failing miserably with the dump.

Petition here.

I woke up this morning to the smell of smoke and Ii knew immediately it was the dump.
My throat and eyes are burning already.
I just blogged about it.
I posted some pictures there as well as the link to the petition.

barcannlivejournal

if you haven't already, please sign the petition.
We must do something about this.
This is so ridiculous.
Barbara

In the mean time , a court case was filed today (June 2, 2008) against the government over this issue. A group of residents, including our family, have asked the court to intervene and to order government to take all measures to prevent these fires. This has simply gone too far and it is time to take something serious action before this gets totally out of hand.

It's already out of hand, it was in Roy's hand's for so long and he did nothing of course, except set up some sketchy deal with a metal recycling outfit for our wrecks. Windward Roads manages the dump and I fully expect Govt to try to shift the blame on to them. They should have been fired long ago, and would have been if all these people weren't all buddies and pals and we had a real government.

The issue of the dump and how we are going to deal with our waste needs to be a public debate. And I mean with public meetings and full disclosure of all options, reports and studies to the public. I wonder if Theo has matured enough yet to do something like that?

Hady

Hey, you know what?
History will repeat itself as usual; meaning that in due time the Dutch will intervene, just like they did with our beloved prison. Just play the waiting game and you’ll find 9.5 million Euros right there. Was it magic?

No moneys from the harbour go on a plane to the Netherlands, my dear sir, as you know very well I am sure.
But yes indeed, why not spend another grant amount of it on easy-to-fix projects, like beautification. Try the waste problem. See it as a challenge and aim for something sustainable. Ask professional advise and please don’t forget to have a word with foundations and the public. Some openness of policy could be the golden key.

-The next day-

Sheesh, I own I am being far to negative here...*Will try to look on the bright side of life in the future…excusez-moi!*:
http://www.thedailyherald.com/news/daily/l017/dump017.html

Angelina