Government Minister Matthew Samuda of the JLP came out swinging on the matter of the environment during Saturday’s election debate, dismissing the claim that the PNP cared deeply about environmental issues.

He was rebutting a response given by Senator Sophia Frazer Binns, Shadow Minister of Environment and Ecological Heritage, to a question posed via social media by the Jamaica Environment Trust (JET).

The JET question was, ‘Industrial pollution like the repeated Rio Cobre fish kills continues without meaningful consequences for polluters. What measures will your government put in place to guarantee stronger deterrence?’

In response to the JET, Frazer Binns said it is no secret that enough has been done to protect the environment.

She said if the PNP is voted into power in the September 3 general election, her government will ensure that the body charged with protecting the environment does its work, starting with a second look at the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) and making it an independent body with an independent tribunal.

“Apart from that, the Environmental Impact Assessment is something that we must look at. The People’s National Party is committed to ensuring that the requirement for environmental impact assessment is legislated,” Frazer Binns said.

“For us in the People’s National Party, we can’t talk about the economic development, we cannot talk about community development unless there is the protection of the environment, and we are committed to doing that,” she promised.

Frazer Binns said the PNP wants communities to be a part of the decision-making process when it comes on to environmental issues, and intends to sign the Escazú Agreement if voted into power, so that persons can have access to information, know about development or pollution in their area.

But in his rebuttal to Frazer Binns, Samuda said: “The People’s National Party has never been serious about environmental protection. In their last time at the wicket, they proposed a coal plant to generate electricity in St Elizabeth. “They proposed the development of the logistics hub in the Goat Islands, including saying ‘Only two little lizard was over there’ by the former minister in charge.”

Samuda, who was instrumental in the govenment’s single-use plastic ban, added: “But, beyond that, they have a leader who could not bring himself to vote for the plastic ban when the matter came to the Senate. They have never demonstrated environmental leadership. This government has. It is why at the last time there was a serious industrial incident in the Rio Cobre, this government drew down on a $117 million bond, the single largest consequence for environmental breach in the country’s history.”

He added that it was his government that passed recent amendments to the Natural Resources Conservation Authority (NRCA) Act, allowing corporate bodies to be charged upwards of $10 million at a judge’s discretion.

“This government [the JLP] is serious about the environment. We have demonstrated so [locally] and we have demonstrated so internationally, and it is why we will continue to lead with new elements of the plastic ban, with amendments to WLPA… and it is why we are recognised as an environmental leader globally,” Samuda said.