By Precious D. Freeman
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has threatened unspecified action against the Fengshou International Rock Quarry used by the East International and the Sino-Liberia for its consistent violation of unauthorized backfilling of wetland.
During a tour yesterday with journalists led by the EPA team to provide a comprehensive and first-hand account on the level of degradation being carried out by human activities at the site in Marshall, Margibi County, the trucks filled with sand was seen carrying out its work by backfilling the wetland.
According to the head of Media and Corporate at the EPA, Danise Dennis-Dodoo, several communications have been sent out to the companies to stop the process which is a violation but they have refused to do so.
“This is a compliance issue that needs the right steps to be taken and observe all of the right mechanisms, but if they do not go by all of these steps then that means they will be fined,” she said.
According to her, the wetland is important to Liberia and based on the damages that have been caused, EPA in due course will take the best action against these companies because they are not abiding by the recommendation made by the EPA.
She narrated that the decisions to shut down Fengshou International is based on the persistent non-compliance and defiance posture of the company to adhere to EPA’s recommendations communicated to it after a full-scaled assessment of its project on October 19, 2022, as well as the repeated backfilling of a critical ecosystem of international importance to construct a 2.0km of literate road in the wetland.
“Unauthorized backfilling of wetland is a violation of the Environmental Protection and Management Law of Liberia (EPML),” she said.
Madam Dodoo continued that Marshall Wetland is one of Liberia’s wetlands of international importance under the Ramsar Convention, an international treaty for the protection of wetlands, and that Liberia is a signatory to the convention adopted in 1971.
She furthered that the East International applied for an environmental permit last year to construct a 2.0 km access road in the wetland from the Fengshou Rock Quarry to the RIA main road, but the EPA after a pre-assessment of the project feasibility, denied the project.
According to her, the company has been bent on exhibiting a defiance posture and started backfilling the wetland to build the road despite the EPA’s refusal to allow them build in the wetland.
Meanwhile, when the Chief Security for the project was asked why the work still continues after the EPA’s mandate, he said, it is true that the EPA put halt to the backfilling but his boss can better explain.
