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Letter to Ed Boles from Vulcan
Representative
Dear Dr. Boles, Thank you for
including us on this note to share with us for the first
time your concerns on
The White Ridge Project. As we move forward, we are
committed to maintaining
transparent, open lines of communication with
stakeholders to share project
facts and respond to questions and concerns. In this spirit, we
wanted to set the record straight on certain claims made
in your email and
attached draft report. In our view, these claims are
inaccurate and
unfortunately, even if unintentionally,
misleading. · It
is
misleading to try and quantify or detail environmental
impacts before an
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) has been conducted
for The White Ridge
Project. Vulcan Materials Company has not yet finalized
a purchase of the White
Ridge Farm property. If Vulcan purchases the White Ridge
Farm property, the
project will undergo a rigorous and scientifically
thorough EIA, conducted to
World Bank standards and consistent with all Belizean
regulations. That report
will discuss scientific findings on any environmental
impacts and a
comprehensive plan on how best to address them. All
relevant updates on the EIA
process, including opportunities for stakeholder input,
will be posted to our
website and Facebook channels. · We
are
committed to developing The White Ridge Project as an
economically,
environmentally, and socially sustainable limestone
quarry. We will act as
responsible stewards of the unique flora and fauna on
the White Ridge Farm
property. This is how we operate across each and every
one of our hundreds of
sites in North America, and how we will operate in
Belize, should we develop
the project. Consistent with our company-wide commitment
to environmental
stewardship and ethics, we will only proceed with this
project if it can be demonstrably
proven that it can be done in a way that takes into
account the overall
environment and surrounding ecosystems. We will continue
to have open, ongoing
conversations with stakeholders on the number of
wide-ranging economic and
environmental benefits this project can have for the
Gales Point community and
the nation as a whole. · We
have a
decades-long history of successful and productive
operations in Mexico. Our
operations have contributed greatly to the local economy
and local education,
having been recognized on numerous occasions for our
environmental stewardship.
Over a 14-year-period, the Mexican government repeatedly
awarded our operation
with its “Clean Industry Certificate” – the highest
official environmental
award given by the government of Mexico to businesses
operating in Mexico. We
hold, and always have held, all authorizations and
permits required by and
granted under Mexican law to operate safely and
environmentally responsibly in
Mexico. When appropriate, we have defended our rights as
consistent with the
law, as is the case with the in-progress NAFTA
arbitration filed in mid-2018.
We encourage you to read the facts on our environmental
conservation work in
our most recent SAC-TUN sustainability report. As the EIA process
determines environmental data and needs surrounding this
project, we will
continue to work with local leaders and the community to
support public health
needs, education, welfare, and jobs for the citizens of
Gales Point and the
surrounding areas. We appreciate the
opportunity to respond to your concerns. We hope to
maintain an open line of
dialogue with you moving forward. Respectfully, Janet Janet F. Kavinoky
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