And as you would remember, those DOE experts were treated to hostility at that Public Consultation. Try as they might to get the attendees to listen to their explanations for greenlighting the seismic testing, those members of the public wouldn't hear it.
With that level of suspicion, you'd think that the DOE is a rubber stamp for projects which the Government wants to push through. Not so, says the Blackadore Caye expert, Jim Reilly, today. He shared his opinion when we asked him about his encounters of the Government's scientists. He says that from his personal view, they vigorously defend Belize's environment in any project:
im Reilly - Director of Environmental Protection, Blackadore Caye Restorative Island Project
"I don't think it's fair to say that they rubberstamp every project or any project. My work through the initial EIA and through our second public consultation in August is that the panel was very professional and that they did their due diligence each individual member from Tourism and from the different ministries - they all had very pointed questions that went directly to their area of expertise. They were robust and they represented their constituency and it wasn't easy. I sat through both question and answer periods after the EIA with the NEAC panel in Belmopan and they were tough. I sweated through some of the, because we were warried. You don't get your answer until the end of the day and so it's like going in for a verbal exam with your professor and then waiting to see what he is going to tell you when you're done and so I think to be fair to them that they really did stick to their guns and follow the regulatory policy of the nation."
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