Angelfish Caye Project Receives Cleared D.O.E.  

Earlier this year, the Government of Belize ordered a suspension of the dredging operations being conducted at Angelfish Caye by the company Angelfish Caye L.L.C. The island is also known as the Will Bauer Flats. Operations of the company are still at a standstill as it attempts to gain environmental clearance and permits to proceed. On Tuesday, Chief Environmental Officer, Anthony Mai provided an update on the Environmental Impact Assessment conducted by the Department of the Environment. Here’s what he had to say.

 

Anthony Mai, Chief Environmental Officer, D.O.E.

“There is none so far in my estimation, Angelfish has environmental clearance, and I could only speak to the D.O.E. I know that there might be some issues with regards to the dredge permit, et cetera. I won’t speak on that. That has to be input has to be given from the agencies that deal with that. But so far again the Department of Environment has granted clearance. This project went through, I think, a very rigorous process. We had three public consultations for this project, two NEAC meetings, and at the end of the day, the NEAC recommended that clearance be granted, and the D.O.E. accepted the recommendation. We developed a draft on the, I’m sorry, on a draft environmental compliance plan that was shared with the NEAC had input, and at the end of the day, it was finalized. And so the, from our standpoint, they have environmental clearance. The thing is that once environmental clearance is granted, It’s not a green light to proceed, right? Environmental clearance normally is just one aspect of the list of approvals, a project that will need to proceed.”