And moving on to other environmental news, the press asked "Landy" Habet, the Minister responsible for the environment, about the latest in the Cabinet's fact-finding mission for the 2019 Environmental Compliance Plan to Stake Bank's Port Coral Project.
You'll remember that as the controversial approval of causeways for that cruise port that is under construction. The Chief Environmental Officer, Martin Allegria, managed to produce that document after months of uncertainty, while the former minister insisted that such approvals expressly did not have Cabinet support.
Around the same time that questions were being asked about who gave the approval, a leaked memo emerged that Allegria was entering into pre-retirement leave. So, is the controversy around that approval play into his sudden and impending exit from office? Here's what Habet had to say about that when we asked this afternoon:
Hon. Orlando "Landy" Habet
"Cabinet had requested that the chief environmental officer submit a report on what had happened. It has been submitted to cabinet, to the prime minister. They supposed to send me a copy of that report. I haven't seen it as yet, CEO and I were out at Glasgow during COP, so we haven't really seen it and really digested it, but as soon as we have that opportunity I will speak to cabinet, cabinet will make a decision on what has to be done."
Reporter
"This matter of the causeways and whether or not stake bank has its ECP to build them, all of a sudden also lines up with the sudden retirement of the chief environmental officer. Is there any correlation between the two?"
Hon. Orlando "Landy" Habet
"No, because his retirement is due. He is going to be 55 in February, so he is doing his pre-retirement leave, because there are holidays that he has to take and so he is off on his vacation leave as pre-retirement."
Reporter
"Is there any explanation as to the origin of the permission given to stake bank and their causeways?"
Hon. Orlando "Landy" Habet
"From what we gathered and the information we have from the ECPs, the date when it was signed, this was signed remember of August of 2019, we got into office of November 2020, so that ECP was signed a year and 2 months before we got into office."
Reporter
"Any ideas to where that permission came from, because the members of the former committee that looks at investment says they didn't give the authority to NEAC and the DOE to approve any causeways."
Hon. Orlando "Landy" Habet
"But what we have to recall is the regulations then and the EPA gave the authority to the chief environmental officer, at that time was the chairman of the NEAC and has the authority to sign. So if they didn't see it from 14 months then something is wrong."
Reporter
"It's brings me back straight to that question of the sudden retirement of Mr. Allegria. He is the chief environmental officer, he has been and he would have been the man who would have given that permission."
Hon. Orlando "Landy" Habet
"He has submitted that report. We are to review the report, but what we now have in our hands as we have mentioned on other media, is that now we can see physically the signed report."
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