NEPA calls press conference amid criticism over failed pollution case

 

The National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) has called a press conference for today (Thursday) following outcry over its handling of a failed pollution case against Wisynco Group.

 

The briefing is scheduled for 10 a.m. at the agency's headquarters in St. Andrew.

 

It follows news of the collapse of the case brought against Wisynco for an alleged release of a substance into the Rio Cobre in 2023.

 

Environmental watchdog groups have expressed outrage following Monday's hearing in the St. Catherine Parish Court, where Wisynco was freed of a pollution charge after the prosecution admitted it did not have enough evidence to link the manufacturing and distribution company to the release of fluids into the Rio Cobre in July 2023.

 

The withdrawal of the pollution case against Wisynco marks the second time in less than a year that legal proceedings involving a major corporate entity and the Rio Cobre have ended without full ventilation of the issue in court.

 

In November 2024, Trade Winds Citrus was acquitted of criminal charges after lawyers for the National Environment and Planning Agency told a judge that they were offering no further evidence against the company in a controversial move that triggered widespread public backlash.

 

In the meantime, the National Environment and Planning Agency is disputing a statement from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions that it offered no evidence in the case against Wisynco for alleged pollution of the Rio Cobre. 

 

The prosecution said it was unable to mount a successful case due to a lack of evidence including samples from the river or alleged source of effluent.

 

But NEPA's Chief Executive Officer Leonard Francis said some samples were taken that could have been used as circumstantial evidence.

 

"The officer tested three sites and we followed the chain of custody," he said, adding that the samples were placed on ice and sent to the lab for testing. 

 

"We tested for nitrate, phosphate, faecal coliform, biochemical accident demand, total dissolved solids, total suspended solids. And what it did show is that they were elevated levels in some circumstances. Also for us, visually, we saw where there was what we would term 'discoloured water' and there was a smell in the area as well," noted Mr. Francis, who was speaking Wednesday on Radio Jamaica's Beyond the Headlines with host Dionne Jackson Miller. 

 

Mr. Francis believes sufficient evidence was collected by the agency in the pollution case against Wisynco.

 

"We saw the broken pipe; it was never in dispute if the pipe was broken. Two, we had the necessary permits, we had our analysis and we had everything, and actually, the warning that we served actually was signed by a representative from Wisynco. So we thought that that was sufficient evidence even if there was an issue with the sample. But we did get the samples," he insisted. 

 

However, he admitted: "We did not sample the fish because where we could access the fish, they were rotten and they were covered with flies. The fish that we saw in the river that were gasping, we could not access them because of where they were and we would not be able to get down there."