Dear Editor,
For the past two weeks, the Retirement Dump near Montego Bay, St James, has been on fire, and a huge blanket of smoke has been settling on nearby communities at night.
This is a condition that repeats itself several times a year. During the day, after the north-east trade winds begin to blow, the smoke dissipates. During the night, people who reside in communities, including Gutters, Retirement, Mud Valley, Pitfore, Granville, Tucker, Bogue Village, Bogue, Catherine Hall, Westgate Hills, Reading, Freeport, and Montego Bay, are forced to breathe in dense smoke derived from toxic waste materials. This obviously carries short and long-term risks to people's health and is not an acceptable situation.
I think that the MoBay public deserves the urgent action of the solid waste agency in resolving the ongoing causes of the smoke. The public also deserves the attention of the political representatives, the tourism sector leaders, the environmental NGOs, and the environment protection agency to bring attention and pressure to have the current situation dealt with and future occurrences prevented.
I suspect that if this condition existed in Kingston there would be prominent headlines, NEPA would be carrying out tests of the smoke, and NSWMA would be contacted for comment by radio and TV stations, and environmental NGOs would be holding press conferences. Someone please help!
Mark Hall
hallsinvest@gmail.com
MoBay dump nuisance
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For the past two weeks, the Retirement Dump near Montego Bay, St James, has been on fire, and a huge blanket of smoke has been settling on nearby communities at night.
This is a condition that repeats itself several times a year. During the day, after the north-east trade winds begin to blow, the smoke dissipates. During the night, people who reside in communities, including Gutters, Retirement, Mud Valley, Pitfore, Granville, Tucker, Bogue Village, Bogue, Catherine Hall, Westgate Hills, Reading, Freeport, and Montego Bay, are forced to breathe in dense smoke derived from toxic waste materials. This obviously carries short and long-term risks to people's health and is not an acceptable situation.
I think that the MoBay public deserves the urgent action of the solid waste agency in resolving the ongoing causes of the smoke. The public also deserves the attention of the political representatives, the tourism sector leaders, the environmental NGOs, and the environment protection agency to bring attention and pressure to have the current situation dealt with and future occurrences prevented.
I suspect that if this condition existed in Kingston there would be prominent headlines, NEPA would be carrying out tests of the smoke, and NSWMA would be contacted for comment by radio and TV stations, and environmental NGOs would be holding press conferences. Someone please help!
Mark Hall
hallsinvest@gmail.com
MoBay dump nuisance
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