And the Chief Environmental Officer also confirmed that they have had run ins with Loewen before. However, any further action would require legal consultation on their part.
But he added that they have done their investigation as it regards to this Placencia Lagoon development. He explained their findings via Zoom.
Anthony Mai, Chief Environmental Officer
"I could also confirm that going through the investigation, we found that the development also has environmental player and so they're dredging of 4,500 cubic yards of material from that particular area for the said company."
"So you have, in terms of the file that I went through and the report that I received from my staff, it seems that the proprietor had all the requisite documentation, all due diligences were done before clearance was granted and the mining permit was granted."
Reporter
"So now, what went wrong?"
Anthony Mai, Chief Environmental Officer
"Yeah, so the investigation revealed that the contractor, apparently, with the desire to obtain this 4,500 cubic yards of material, decided to extract it in an unconventional way, if I could use those words."
"So really and truly, what the contractor should have done was get a barge, put an excavator on the barge, and then dredge the material and then take it out to land, put it in a dewatering site, allow it to dry for a period of time before it is used to fill the seaside component of this development and also a portion of the property."
"What the developer did, he explained was that because the sand was not readily available in the near shore area, the method of extracting the 4,500 cubic yards of material involved the removal of the material."
"So it began to pile up the material into the lagoon. And the intention was always, according to him, was for the structure that was being built to be removed because the structure that was being built was the same sand that he would have removed to obtain the 4,500 cubic cars of material."
"And so that's what we understand is the reason as to why this structure was being built. But for us, one of the concerns is the fact that silt curtains, sedimentation, containment structures were not in place during that operation."
Reporter
"What happens now? Do you, first of all, deem that what was done then was illegal?"
Anthony Mai, Chief Environmental Officer
"So we're still making a determination. I could tell you that the fact that silt curtains were not used violates the conditions of the ingramental clearance litter."
"And so the extraction method, the way how the material was removed, is something that we're still discussing with the mining unit to see how we deal with that particular issue."
The Placencia Village Council has a meeting scheduled with the mining unit tomorrow.
