Asa Wright Nature Reserve in battle with quarry operators

A battle is set between one of this country's oldest nature reserves – the Asa Wright Nature Centre – against one of the country's biggest contractors – Junior Sammy – over access to a goldmine of limestone aggregate in an area known as Verdant Vale, in the Northern Range, just beyond the borough of Arima.

Naturalists see the fight as one between David and Goliath, and hope the quarry operator will concede or the High Court rule in its favour and benefit from millions of dollars in restitution, as well as having its lands restored.

The William Beebe Tropical Research Station, built in the early 1950s, stands on 31 acres right between two active quarries – one operated by National Quarries and the other by Sammy Minerals Ltd. The nature centre is on the St Patrick's Estate, north of the Verdant Vale quarry, commonly referred to as the PTF 1 quarry.

Beebe, the renowned American explorer who founded the station, named it Simla because it bore a striking resemblance to the reserve of the same name that he visited in India.

The research station annually hosts international students from top universities as well as local students researching tropical wildlife. It accommodates 24 students at a time for three-month internships. The next intake is in October.

Simla was once home to 164 species of birds, 27 species of snakes, including the venomous mapepire balsain and mapepire zanana, and 16 species of amphibians.

But maintenance manager of the station Rupert Radix said the quarries have significantly reduced the number of birds, snakes, butterflies, agoutis and hunting ants once in abundance on the estate, and also destroyed a natural water source, leaving Simla dependent on a truck-borne supply.

During a visit on August 24, the roar of heavy quarry machinery drowned out the sound of pouring rain and birdsong at the station.

According to court documents seen by Sunday Newsday, three trustees of the nature centre – senior counsel Fyard Hosein; Akilah Jaramogi, managing director of the Fondes Amandes Community Reforestation Project in St Ann's; and Ruben McSween, former Unit Trust director – sued PTF Mining Ltd and Baksh Construction Services Ltd on February 8, 2019. They were seeking an injunction to cease mining operations on lands belonging to the nature reserve and compensation for over 125,000 cubic metres of aggregate, an estimated value of $14 million, which they claim was removed. A claim rejected by the quarry operator.

They also wanted compensation for damage to the "natural and delicate ecosystem," the degradation of the tropical rainforests, soil erosion and damage to the natural hydrology and watersheds. The quarry operator said its activities did not cause any such damage.

The trustees are also seeking compensation for the destabilisation of the slopes, which caused land slippage, and costs to restore the area.

In court documents, Baksh Construction Services Ltd contends that there was no trespass or unauthorised removal of any material from lands belonging to the nature reserve and intends to rely on survey plans to challenge the lawsuit.

The company claims that in February 2015, its operators observed a fault line on a steep portion of what it assumed to be part of the quarry and took steps to bench the area to prevent further landslip and possible threat to workers and machinery below. On March 27, 2015, the company said it was accused of trespass and removing material from lands owned by the nature centre. After a survey of showed the stabilisation work was not on the nature centre's land on June 11, 2015, the company said it was surprised that it was being accused of being on the nature centre's land.

The company said any trespass on the nature centre's lands is justified by the necessity to bench a fault line in order to preserve life and property.

But even while this action drags on before High Court judge Nadia Kangaloo, with several case management hearings as the parties seek to settle, a new operator has taken over the quarry and has triggered a fresh wave of complaints to Energy Minister Stuart Young and other officials. The matter next comes up for hearing in October, when the court term reopens.

On January 4, chairman of the Asa Wright Nature Centre Prof Judith Gobin wrote to Young expressing alarm that in December 2021, the National Quarries had invited tenders for quarrying services at its limestone division, Verdant Vale, Arima. Gobin said in a meeting with the chief operating officer of National Quarries in November 2021, it was revealed that the state-owned company did not have a licence to mine at the Scott's Quarry on the north ridge, which can been seen from the balcony of the nature centre.

"This blatant breach by the State of its own laws and policies (is) particularly abhorrent when it deals with environmental loss. The escalation of quarrying operations at Scott's Quarry will compound the already severe negative impacts on the flora and fauna that inhabit the Spring Hill Estate and environs and the surrounding communities," Gobin said.

She referred to a May 2021 Newsday article quoting the minister which said: "The illegal quarrying is not only destroying our environment, but it is also gangsterism. It is a brutal attack on what we the citizens of TT are entitled to in terms of the illegal extraction of aggregate from our lands as the people of TT."

Young said the population could rest assured that as Minister of Energy, he would focus on this as a priority "in tackling that scourge."

Gobin said in light of Young's position she was hopeful that the ministry would take the necessary steps to ensure that lands are not illegally mined.

In a July 8 response to a complaint of trespass and unlawful mining on lands belonging to the nature centre, Monty Beharry, director of minerals at the Ministry of Energy, said Sammy Minerals Ltd took over operations of the quarry in October 2020 from Baksh Construction, and that the operator did not have a licence to mine and process aggregate.

He referred to Section 45 (1) of the Minerals Act, which lists a penalty of $500,000 and imprisonment of five years on summary conviction and a fine of $700,000 and imprisonment of up to seven years for a second offence.

Beharry said after receiving complaints from the chairman of the nature reserve in March and July, he directed Sammy Minerals to "re-establish all boundary demarcations by the placement of boundary irons, surrounding the 32-acre parcel for which Sammy Minerals has applied for a mining licence, clearly marked and maintained so as to be accessible at all times."

Asked what steps the ministry had taken to ensure that Sammy Minerals is operating within its boundaries until a quarry licence is granted, the director of minerals said its officers make regular site visits to ensure that the quarry operations do not exceed their boundaries and where deviations are found, the company is directed to rescind such operations.

Beharry said Sammy Minerals was directed to establish a ten-foot buffer zone on the perimeter of the quarry where no work ought to take place. Sammy Minerals, he said, was directed by letter on January 27 to "immediately terminate all excavation activity on the land owned by the nature reserve "which are being damaged by your activities."

The company was also told to "take the necessary steps to rehabilitate the affected" area "to the satisfaction of the director of minerals."

Sammy Minerals has a certificate of environmental clearance from the Environmental Management Authority, which was transferred from Baksh Construction on October 14, 2020, and a blasting permit issued by the Commissioner of Police to Shivonne Sammy, which expired on April 20.

In answer to a freedom of information request on May 26 last year filed by the nature centre, the Ministry of Energy said no applications or approvals had been granted to any quarry operator between 2010 and 2021 for the area in question, and there was no record of any royalties paid by the operators between 2015 and 2021, "as the parcels were not licensed."

Beharry in a WhatsApp reply Saturday said a meeting was scheduled for September 7 with Asa Wright Nature Centre and Sammy Minerals to discuss the matter, for a resolution of their dispute, "subject to the availability of both parties."

Calls and a text message seeking comment from Junior Sammy, founder of the Sammy Group of Companies, were not answered.