The contractors of Best Sunshine International, Ltd. has yet to determine where it would properly dispose water from its excavation activities on their site in Garapan although the Bureau of Environmental and Coastal Quality said the company has been considering discharging in the lagoon.
\nAccording to BECQ administrator Frank Rabauliman, they have met with BSI to \u201cdiscuss status progress as far as compliance.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe asked them to re-do their environmental compliance plan and phase it out,\u201d Rabauliman said.
\nRabauliman said BSI is currently at Phase 1, which is dewatering on site through excavation water being pumped out to bladder bags which allows sediment to settle and then pump it out to a ponding basin.
\nHe added that they are ensuring that BSI is following this phase and that when they dewater, it remains on the footprint of the project until such time that they have a final plan for their Phase 2 or the discharging of the water offsite which will include work on pumping out water from the ponding basin, back to a bag that will allow further sedimentation to settle before they can discharge the cleaner water offsite.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re still working on Phase 2,\u201d Rabauliman said. <\/p>\n
Rabauliman said BSI is yet to determine the location on where they will discharge the water.
\n\u201cThat too we\u2019ve yet to hear what they would propose,\u201d Rabauliman said, adding that they\u2019ve looked at dewatering to an adjacent property, which they would need to properly acquire or discharge into the canal to the lagoon which is going to require a lot more than just a regular permit including U.S. Environmental Protection Agency permits. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m hearing that they are pursuing that,\u201d Rabauliman said. <\/p>\n
Rabauliman assured that there will be a lot of tests and water sampling before the excavated water will be allowed to discharge offsite. <\/p>\n
\u201cTo what parameters [for the water sampling] we\u2019re still working with the water branch here but certainly turbidity is a huge concern. But we also want to check on heavy metals or whatever other parameters that makes sense,\u201d Rabauliman said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we have reason to believe that there were petroleum on the site then perhaps we\u2019ll check that but as you know there were a lot of different stuff that were found on the site,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
BSI also requested again to lift the restriction on their work hours, which BECQ allowed provided that they are only going to do concreting until 10pm and no excavation activities will be done beyond the regular hours.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs of last week, everything seems to be working. We haven\u2019t heard any noncompliance issues they seem to be satisfied with the arrangement,\u201d Rabauliman said.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo their credit, they\u2019ve really tried their best to keep the discharge within the footprint of the property,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Between the months of February and April, BECQ issued orders to BSI when it found violations as it repeatedly did not prevent runoff and contaminants from entering the lagoon, among others despite numerous warnings, fines, and cease-and-desist orders.<\/p>\n
The casino company\u2019s construction workers essentially worked through ways to illegally pump the project\u2019s waste and discharge and their potential contaminants into the lagoon through deficient runoff and erosion controls, unpermitted runoff pipes and ponding basins, and excavated grounds outside their permitted construction site, among others, according to these documents.<\/p>\n
Rabauliman said there has been \u201ccommunication gaps\u201d between BSI and their contractors.
\n\u201cWe\u2019re meeting with BSI but BSI is not the contractor,\u201d Rabauliman said, adding that the information and plans that were discussed \u201cseemingly did not trickle down to the contractor.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m hoping that before they even consider another approach we need to be informed,\u201d Rabauliman said, \u201cWe\u2019re hoping that any new modifications to the plan, they\u2019ll come back in.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTheir timeline is still very aggressive. They want to open by the end of this year. We want to see that happen too, but at the same time we have mandates and responsibilities that we owe to the public and that\u2019s to ensure that there will be minimum impact by the developers to the environment,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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