"Isla books substantial gain of time despite losing court cases"

July 27, 2010 1:34 PM

The chairman of foudation Clean Environment on Curaçao (SMOC) Peter van Leeuwen sees a drawback despite the positive outcomeof the ruling of the Higher Court against the Isla-refinery on Monday. The Isla has booked a substantial gain of time despite having lost everything.

“This case lasted more than five years. Hundreds of millions of dollars were earned at the expense of closed schools, ill and dead people. Fortunately, this verdict ends this. The Board of Governors (BC) must bear the responsibility that the permitted standards are no longer exceeded”, says Van Leeuwen.

The Isla had appealed to a Higher Court against the verdict in which SMOC demanded that the BC monitors in compliance with the permits and the determined standards for emission of sulphur dioxide and dust. With that, the verdict of June 2009 was enforced. The BC indicated it would execute the current legal judgment. “We will also exert pressure on the Board of Governors to finally make sure that the existing lax standards are divided amongst BOO and Isla. This should have been done a long time ago. Isla must rightly grovel deeply. As we expected, they had lost on all fronts. BOO had insisted on the verdict for which I am pleased. Both the Isla and the BOO must comply with the standards”, says Van Leeuwen. In practice, this means the Isla must comply with the permit and its determined daily and annual average emission standards for sulphur dioxide and dust near the Jewish Cemetery Beth Chaim. This also applies for BOO. The Board of Governors is authorized to impose stricter standards on Isla and BOO to prevent them from exceeding the currently maximum together.

Earlier this year in the civil court case, which had taken more than four years, the Isla was sentenced to a 75 million guilder fine if they exceeded the annual average for sulphur dioxide. SMOC, together with Humanitarian Care and 26 residents, had gone to court. To SMOC’s dissatisfaction, the Court only sentenced Isla to a 75 million guilder fine if it exceeded the SO2 annual standard – 80 mcg/m3. At the time, Van Leeuwen had stated that exceeding the annual standard could only be calculated afterwards – when the year elapsed – and that it would be better to monitor the daily exceeding standards. These can be determined daily and are easier to maintain. There is a 3000 to 5000 guilder fine upon exceeding the daily standards. “Isla and BOO await difficult times, that is certain after all our won cases – together with Humanitarian Care. I am proud of the only lawyer on this island, Sandra in ‘t Veld, who had dared to take the case. Together with us, she has defeated an army of leading lawyers”, says Van Leeuwen.

(Source: National newspaper Amigoe)

21 July 2010