| Last night, we told you about how the Government of Belize decided to withdraw their Civil Appeal to the victory that OCEANA, COLA and the Coalition to Save Our Natural Heritage won in their fight against off shore oil drilling.
In that case, Justice Oswell Legal declared 6 offshore oil drilling contracts illegal. Those contracts were issued by Government between 2005 and 2007. After the trial at that time, the litigators on both sides were convinced that the issue wasn't resolved, and the Government filed suit to appeal the judgement at the Court of Appeal. Well, as we told you, they withdrew that case, which would have been very lengthy and expensive for everyone involved.
Today, we got a chance to speak with the leaders of two of the organizations who gave us a reaction to the decision of the Government to discontinue on this issue:
Janelle Chanona - VP, OCEANA Belize
"We're looking at the withdrawal of the appeal and the indication that the matter of the injunction will be similarly dealt with. As a clear indication that government is trying to demonstrate its commitment towards the magnitude of this issue. That cannot go unnoticed, the Prime Minister was very clear in his position in terms of asserting that a moratorium is in effect. But certainly as a policy organization, we take this as signs of good faith but we continue to work towards a position where we are comfortable with the policy currently in place."
Geovannie Brackett - President, COLA
"I think it's just reaffirms, Justice Legal's first prior decision that it was right. Indeed this is not just a victory for the claimants. OCEANA, COLA and the Coalition to save to natural heritage, but it's a victory for all the supporters who came out in the mock referendum to support us. I think just the other day, the Prime Minister was asked if he will hold his promise of hosting a real referendum, considering the fact that Petrocaribe is rolling. So I think that he was hesitant and we yet to see that promise come to display, but there's still a lot of work that needs to be done. I think part of the ruling, I think that affirms what we initially wrote in our very first press release when COLA sent it out in 2010, which stated that these companies are more than just fly by night companies. these are just people in our opinion, who put together a company and then not even proper bidding, in our view, was just attempting to get a whole of a PSA and trying to get it market it to try to get some money."
Janelle Chanona - VP, OCEANA Belize
"If there's a policy in place, that gives some comfort in knowing that there is a law in place, that there are conditions that have to be met, that there are procedures that have to be followed for any changes. As opposed to somebody waking up and having a different feeling that day. Certainly that is why a legal formalized document, a clear position I think is what Belizeans deserve. This is their public resources, this is something that so many of us depend on every day for our livelihoods and as a country we depend on as a key economic driver through tourism and fishing. so at the very least, yes this deserves a clear policy and we've been invited by the PM to submit language to that effect and we're going to get that to him as soon as possible."
There is now only one remain court matter in this case, which involves an injunction.
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