Anand questions Duncombe’s qualifications
Claims she instigated Albany’s bad press
August 14, 2008
By ROGAN M. SMITH
Guardian Senior Reporter
rogan@nasguard.com
Albany Managing Partner Christopher Anand is questioning local environmental activist Sam Duncombe’s qualifications in environmental studies and claims she single-handedly instigated most of the company’s bad press.
Duncombe, who is the director of reEarth, a local environmental advocacy agency, has been a vocal critic of the Albany development, calling it “unsustainable and irresponsible.”
Anand wants to know what makes her qualified to make scientific comments on the effect that the Albany development will have on the environment.
“Just for the record, as it relates to Sam Duncombe, is she qualified in environmental (studies)? What are her qualifications in environment? How many people are in her organization, reEarth? I just think that needs to be put into context,” Anand said.
“I would say that Sam has clearly instigated most of the bad press. If there have been negative things written about Albany, they have come from her. So, I think it’s important to just bear in mind what her qualifications are.”
Anand says Albany Environmental Project Manager Rochelle Newbold, however, is qualified to speak about the Albany development and the impact it has on the environment.
Newbold is a former BEST (Bahamas Environment and Science Technology) Commission geologist.
“Rochelle has a Master’s from Duke University in Coastal Environmental Management. I think that matters; I think that’s important,” Anand said.
Anand says Albany’s marina will be environmentally safe despite what critics claim.
“I can’t help but feel that one or two people want to try and paint Albany to be this bad custodian steward of the country, let alone the environment. They get the odd so-called expert to come out and say something that clearly stokes your interest as journalists,” he said.
“We’re not the first people to do a development in The Bahamas. I wish everybody in The Bahamas was held to these standards. To have to get an environmental impact assessment (EIA) approved before you even get a Heads of Agreement signed. To have to put the money up to demonstrate the type of commitment to the country. To do the kinds of things that we’re doing. I would say that we’re a model developer. I don’t think that you’d sit here and go you guys are cutting corners, you’re doing things wrong, you haven’t got your permits. Our shareholders insist on doing things right.”
But Duncombe says she doesn’t need a degree in environmental studies in order to comment on the development’s impact.
“What qualifications do I need to read? My information comes from their EIA. Rochelle is his employee, what else is she supposed to say? She is also a former BEST (Bahamas Environment Science and Technology) Commission employee,” she said.
“He wants to know who is involved with reEarth, it’s citizens, that’s who. He is free to peruse our website, www.reearth.org. I think he might get the picture. You know, if you attack the messenger, you really can’t defend your position. Putting a golf course on top of the water table is indefensible and he knows it or has not bothered to think past the profits he sees rolling into his account. I suspect the latter. Why haven’t his consultants looked at the what if scenario of the water needs for future Bahamians?”
Duncombe has written Albany backer and golfer Tiger Woods, asking him to back off from the project.
But, Anand says Albany shareholders Joe Lewis, Tiger Woods and Ernie Els, have put their reputation on the line when it comes to the Albany development.
“These people have built a reputation of being the best at what they do. If you look at all of their combined philanthropic, environmental business track records they are second to none as human beings,” Anand said.
“I don’t think Albany has generated negative press. The people behind Albany only know how to do things one way, and that’s the right way. They have a responsibility and a reputation. I don’t think that anything that I’ve said here today is in contradiction to that.”
Newbold said it doesn’t matter what good Albany does, some critics have never been in support of the development.
“Some people just don’t think that there should have been an Albany. Some people just believe that it should have just stayed the way it was for whatever reasons that they have identified for themselves,” she said.
“People take issue with what the government has done in order to allow Albany to be in the position it is in. But those are two separate issues. You cannot hold the developer or an individual responsible for a decision that the government chose to make, that it thought was in the best interest of the country at large. The only thing you can do is ensure that that decision does not have an impact that is going to be significant and long lasting on the Bahamian people or its environment. That’s what Albany should be accountable for - whether or not what they’re doing is going to impact us.”
Construction on Albany marina begins
Fears that road diversions may soon follow
August 14, 2008
By ROGAN M. SMITH
Guardian Senior Reporter
rogan@nasguard.com
Albany developers have begun construction on their controversial mega yacht marina in southwest New Providence, even as critics warn that dredging will erode the four-mile stretch of the Adelaide beach, split it in half and block public access.
Construction started in July.
The development will cut a deep channel through one of New Providence’s longest continuous beaches in order to accommodate 200-foot mega yachts. Now Adelaide residents fear it’s a sign of things to come and that road closures and diversions could soon follow. Yesterday, Albany announced temporary lane closures and detours in an effort to continue its road project in southwest New Providence.
According to Albany Managing Partner Christopher Anand, the development company has secured all of the necessary permits to dredge the canal.
Albany Environmental Project Manager Rochelle Newbold said developers won’t breach the shoreline until the marina is completed.
“That connection to the sea must remain closed until all facets within the marina basin have been completed, because the shoreline protects the marine environment from the siltation of any dredging works or any movement of materials from within the marina from the tidal exchange between the water. So, when all of that is finished and that is no longer an issue, then that plug will be removed.”
Albany projects that the beach will be breached in February or March 2009.
According to the Albany EIA, the proposed marina channel is approximately one mile long, 50-feet wide and 18 feet deep.
The marina is a part of the $1.4 billion luxury playground.
But environmentalists say construction will impact the island’s largest water table and they have called it a ‘recipe for environmental disaster’. The developers insist this is not the case and that the water table will not be impacted.
Environmentalist Sam Duncombe, who is the director of Re-earth, a local organization dedicated to protecting the country’s environment, said she was aware that construction had started on the marina.
“The barges have been out there for at least a week and they are starting to snake the pipes to the dredges and they’ve cleared the land in front of the marina area. So, I assume that things are getting ready to move quite quickly at this point,” she said.
“I don’t understand their dredging methods. The land, the marina part of it, has barely been started so I’m kind of concerned as to how they intend to cut that beach without creating major siltation in the sea.”
The Guardian visited the Adelaide area recently and residents expressed serious concerns about two barges in the water.
“It’s all happening now. I’m getting scared because I’m one of those people who really don’t want this beach destroyed,” said Elma Sands.
“I’m so disappointed in this government. This is our beach and I am going to watch it be ripped apart right in front of my eyes and I feel totally helpless.”
Critics have slammed the former Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) government for “hastily” signing the Heads of Agreement with the Tavistock Group in 2006 without consulting the Bahamian public. They also said access to key reports has been limited.
Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham said the Christie administration had agreed to three breaches of the coastline: for the coastline to be cut for a marina development for the Albany project; a second marina at South Ocean, and a port terminal in the South Ocean area.
Golfers Tiger Woods, Ernie Els and Lyford Cay billionaire Joe Lewis are all backing the project, which environmentalists have deemed ‘environmentally irresponsible’.
Duncombe has repeatedly asked Woods to back away from the controversial development project because of the damage she said it would pose to the coastline by breaching the beach.
While Albany has promised to re-nourish the beach for the next 30 years, critics lament that the $1.5 million bond that developers have put up is insufficient and could easily run out before three decades are up.
Even Prime Minister Ingraham has questioned why the former Christie administration would request such a small bond.
But Anand said yesterday the Albany development is actually helping the Adelaide beach.
“There has been historical erosion on this coastline with or without Albany and with or without a marina, it’s going on. That’s why you’ve got homes and remnants of buildings that are in the sea right now. So, what we’ve done is we’ve actually taken the coastline and are improving it. We are going to renourish this entire coastline by putting sand back there,” he said.
Anand said a select few are attempting to portray Albany as a bad environmental steward.
“There was some discussion that we should build a marina out in the ocean to prevent a cut in the beach. The truth of the matter is that would probably do more harm than you can imagine in terms of impacting the shoreline movement of the ecosystem that exists here,” he said.
Newbold, Albany’s environmental project manager, agrees.
“If we had to deal with a five-acre marina out to sea you’d have to dig a five-acre hole out in the ocean. If you’re talking about the issues relative to turbidity and oil spills and pollution coming out of a marina, the reality is that if you have a marina that’s landlocked and there’s a spill in the marina you can trap it. You can contain it and be able to control it,” she said.
“If you have a marina that’s offshore you have issues relative to sewer containment; you have to run a sewer line from the sea inland to the marina. In the event of a hurricane, if the sewer line breaks or there’s a problem with your sewage facility you have leakages, all of that stuff is already immediately exposed to the marine environment. You cannot control those things, bacteria, viruses once that hits the water.”
Albany developers maintain that they have taken extreme precaution to ensure that the damage to the coastline is mitigated.
Duncombe, however, does not see it that way.
She said Delaporte and Jaws Beach are perfect examples of what’s in store. She said they have been damaged due to beach erosion from the canals and she predicted the Adelaide beach will suffer a similar fate.
She also said the dredging of the canal for a marina will cause siltation, which will impact the coral reefs. Southwest New Providence has been a premier dive spot for years, attracting thousands of visitors to the island.
The canal dredging will inevitably erode the beach and the reefs, leaving homeowners along the coastline vulnerable, Duncombe claimed. Reefs act as a buffer, offering coastal protection.
“It’s very discouraging given that we are faced with all of these issues on the environment with global warming and sea levels rising, which by the way have a huge impact on fresh water lenses because sea water is heavier than fresh water and sits under it. So, as sea levels rise it will push the fresh water up to the surface of the land and it will evaporate. This has huge long-term implications.”
Duncombe said the government is bound by international conventions to protect its environment.
The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) was signed by all United Nations (UN) member states, including The Bahamas, which has endorsed biodiversity conservation.
In 1994 during a CBD convention at the Radisson, Prime Minister Ingraham, who was two years into his first term in office, pledged The Bahamas’ long-standing commitment to conserving the environment, which he said was tied to the country’s economy and tourism.
But, earlier this year, Ingraham said his government was “unable and unwilling to do anything about the marina,” which had already been approved, but would ensure that it was constructed in an environmentally-friendly manner.
In February, Shell oil tanker Ficus ran aground on a reef off Clifton Pier. It was delivering oil to New Providence. Shell sent a disaster preparedness team from London which was placed on standby in the event of an oil spill.
Ingraham expressed uneasiness about images of the tanker grounding and environmentalists predict the worst is yet to come.
“I do not accept that all three of these proposals may be achieved with acceptable levels of environment integrity in this part of New Providence, and I have to admit that the photograph of a Shell tanker filled with fuel run aground in bad weather at Goulding Cay last week has done little to relax or temper my personal misgivings about increased heavy commercial traffic in the area of southwest New Providence,” Ingraham said during debate in the House of Assembly weeks ago.
Duncombe said she’s disappointed that governments seem to “say one thing and do the exact opposite.”
“The Bahamas National Trust (BNT) does not support cutting the beaches, the environment minister (Dr. Earl Deveaux) talks very strongly about protecting the environment, but the reality is that all of it is just words,” she said.
“There is not sufficient care being given to the planning of these resort developments. When you look at their plans for selling the lots, they are going to range from $3 million to $30 million and in some cases they cost $40 million. This should be a state-of-the-art facility and it should be completely respectful to the environment because they have the resources to do so.”
Newbold said without Albany, more than 100 feet of the Adelaide beach would be lost.