THE PEOPLE OF HEPBURN TOWN SAY HELL NO

Kudos to the people of Hepburn Town, one of the settlements of the Eight Mile Rock larger settlement in West Grand Bahama. They sit check and jowl to the Bahama Rock mining area that is proposed to come even closer to them. They know the damage that the existing mining has caused, with the blasting undermining their homes and making them targets of flooding. The government has said that it awaits the process of the regulatory authority but the government must not waffle on this. The extension of the mining permit should not be given. Last week the company Bahama Rock called their employees together and asked them to demonstrate outside the project. They did. Some objected to being forced to pit themselves against their relatives and friends who live in the area. The employees argue that 80 jobs will be lost and they say that the country will have a shortage of aggregate if the project is not allowed to continue. In our view the sanctity and integrity of the environment and safety of the Hepburn town area trumps all of that. The permit should be refused.