ROAD TOWN, Tortola, BVI, 11th March 2011 - The article entitled “US officials urge BVI to prevent drifting smoke” stated that the U.S. State Department is urging the British Virgin Islands to solve the long-standing problem of foul-smelling smoke drifting from a trash incinerator.
In a statement made Thursday, March 10, 2011, Gov. John P. deJongh Jr. said acrid emissions from the garbage-burning facility in Tortola, capital of the British territory, often drifts the roughly four miles (six kilometers) to St. John, the smallest island in the U.S. Caribbean chain, the AP article stated.
Mr. DeJongh said State Department officials contacted authorities in Britain and the British Virgin Islands to press for an immediate halt to open trash burning at the Pockwood Pond Solid Waste Incinerator in Tortola.
“Our friends in the British Virgin Islands must responsibly process their waste. It is unfair for the people of the U.S. Virgin Islands, specifically residents of St. John, to have their air quality diminished by the actions of a neighboring country,” DeJongh said in a statement, obtained by AP.
The article concluded by saying, “The British territory has said it hopes to install a new 100-ton capacity incinerator at Pockwood Pond. The islands’ government has also asserted that tests at the current incineration site show no unacceptable levels of toxicity.”
Article taken from Virgin Islands News Online - http://www.virginislandsnewsonline.com
British Virgin Islands News