EMA: Noise is not our culture

EVEN with a decrease in the number of events that breached the noise levels this Carnival, four top executives of the Environmental Management Authority (EMA) want to see tougher legislation to protect the vulnerable.

Sunday Newsday met with officials of the EMA at their Elizabeth Street, Port of Spain office recently. At the meeting were Steve Lalbeharry, regional coordinator Emergency Response and Investigations, Wayne Rajkumar, manager of Technical Services and Maurice Wishart, legal officer III.

Managing director of the EMA Hayden Romano, who spoke with Sunday Newsday one week prior to the sit down, said the legislation used by the EMA is “soft legislation”. While Rajkumar agrees, he believes as does Wishart, that there needs to be some remodelling of the legal framework governing variation permits that allow fete promoters to blare music above the 65 decibel levels of the night.

Lalbeharry said last year there were 25 reported breaches, all first offenders, and while they do not have the full figures, their interim count is lower and based on the trend that number will not meet or surpass last year’s figure. The cause for this, he said, is unknown. Lalbeharry recalled last year the EMA through its Environmental Police Unit (EPU) stopped one event because it repeatedly breached the allotted noise level.

The event, Stumped, which took place at the Queen’s Park Oval was stopped after officers of the EPU, who are special reserve police officers, spoke with their fellow police officers and had the event cancelled for the breach. Wishart added that the EMA does not have the authority to shut down an event but can influence through the EPU, to have police officers shut it down due to excessive noise.

Presently, the unit has 22 officers, four of them assigned to Tobago. A full complement will be twice that number of officers. It is the hope that with new legislation, better technology and education, the EMA will reduce the complaints of noise pollution and make event promoters adhere to the noise levels.

The trio recalled reports coming from residents surrounding the Hasley Crawford Stadium following Machel Monday on February 25, as a result of the fireworks at the end of the concert at around 3.30 am. They said part of the variation included notifying surrounding stakeholders about the intended fireworks, which was not done.

“There is need for the modification of the legislation as we move forward. There is amendment under consideration and that is one of the areas we are looking at, lowering of the time to capture a breach, so that we can utilise resources in a wise manner,” Wishart said.

He said while the legal limit between 8 pm to 8 am is 65 decibels, event promoters are not obligated to apply for a variation, which will allow them to have sound up to 85 decibels. If they do not apply for the variation then they are obligated to stick within the already prescribed limits. Those who breach the noise levels are fined $10,000 for a company and $5,000 for an individual. Repeat offenders are forced to pay a $10,000 bond upfront and if they re-offend that money is seized.

Wishart said for events for which a variation is applied, the event will have to be monitored for three hours, while those for which a variation is not applied will be monitored for 30 minutes. It is the hope that with new legislation the duration will decrease so that breaches can be detected sooner. Fine increases is another aspect being looked as Rajkumar highlighted that the cost to apply for a variation is $250. Another thing the EMA is looking at is the use of noiseless fireworks. They agree there are countries within the Commonwealth that already have legislation to allow this.

Rajkumar said he and his colleagues sit on several stakeholder boards and have been told that the EMA is “killing the culture” by imposing that noise reduction be a major concern for the Carnival and other periods.

“Carnival is our culture, noise isn’t,” he said.