Virgin Islands officials have not publicly responded to a recent statement from United States Virgin Islands Governor John P. de Jongh, in which Mr. de Jongh calls for the VI to “responsibly process their waste” and stop burning trash in the open at Pockwood Pond.
According to the March 10 statement from Mr. de Jongh’s office, representatives of the US Environmental Protection Agency, through the State Department, have made the request formally to the governments of the VI and the United Kingdom. As of the Beacon’s print deadline yesterday, the Ministry of Health and Social Development had not responded to calls seeking comment.
In January, Deputy Premier Dancia Penn, the minister of health and social development, said that she was aware of complaints from residents as far away as St. John. Speaking in response to a caller at the time on the Virgin Islands Party radio programme, Ms. Penn said the governments of the VI and the USVI were discussing emissions from the Pockwood Pond dump. All the work required to commission a new 100-tonne-per-day-capacity incinerator at the dump was on track to be completed by the end of April, Ms. Penn said at the time.
See today’s edition for full coverage.