The Hole. Just south of the power station at Corito, there is a very large hole that was excavated 
when a million cubic yards of fill were needed for the airport extension project. The hole, known by the construction workers as "The Hole," used to contain a million cubic yards of fill, before it was a hole. If my numbers are correct, it is a million cubic yard hole.
Shortly before the 2005 election, there was speculation about The Hole and its effect on The Valley Aquifer. Government outsourced information about The Hole to opposition candidates and allowed misinformation, lies and stupidness to circulate freely for several months. Then, a spokesman for the United Front announced on the radio that the Party had an innovative solution for The Hole, but they were not free to talk about it until after the election. I don't make this stuff up; I heard it with my two ears.
That was three years ago. The Hole sits there pretty much unchanged except you can no longer see the water at the lowest point because it's been covered with garbage, including toxic waste such as old batteries and television sets, slowly leaching into the aquifer.
Is it time for a change in
Woops. Forgot the landfill liner. Gotta dig it all back out and put one in.
ReplyDeleteGood thing about a lined landfill is that you can then trap the resulting methane and burn it to generate electricity. See Millennium Park in Boston: http://wikimapia.org/1190493/Millenium-Park which does this. Whole thing was a landfill once. Now it's a giant hill with a park on top that generates electricity.
The Hole being next Corito becomes a feature, not a bug, in that regard.
Anguilla needs to wake up to environmental issues before it is too late. I remember long ago when there was a rather brief attempt to recycle glass and aluminum. Other places in this small world of ours realize the need to protect the environment. If Anguilla wants to keep its place as a high-end tourist destination, it needs to protect its environment. That means some of the old-time stupidness must stop. People cannot continue to throw trash around and drive wherever they want without consequences. Those that believe that because they have that BH degree that can do whatever BS they want need to be re-educated. But maybe that is the problem. They were never properly educated in the first place.
ReplyDeleteI am amused by the arrogant self-importance of some official who has a plan for the future use of a hole in the ground but considers it a state secret.
ReplyDeleteThe CM was on the radio last night, complaining that some people don't treat the Ministers with respect.
Respect is more than manners and politeness. Respect includes telling us the truth.
A government that treats the people as if they were enemies shouldn't be surprised if the people meet their expectations.
Our government doesn't treat us like we're the enemy. They treat us like we're stupid children.
ReplyDeleteIf you listen to some of the ignorant comments people make on call-in shows, you can understand why our leaders feel they need to talk to us as if we were fools.
But I blame them, not the fools. If they were less secretive, they would help the people to understand things better, and some of us would feel less angry and frustrated.
But instead, we have state secrets about a hole in the ground.