THE National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) is to appeal yesterday’s Supreme Court ruling that it had breached the legal standard for public consultation on the Palisadoes Rehabilitation and Shoreline Protection project.

The judgement followed a judicial review sought by environment lobby group the Jamaica Environment Trust (JET) against NEPA in March over the US$65-million project.

“NEPA’s position is that the learned judge erred in her judgement in that aspect and we have sought and were granted leave to appeal… we will be consulting with the Attorney General’s Chambers with a view to preparing the requisite documents for court,” Robert Collie, NEPA’s director of legal services and enforcement told the Observer.

The judgement, which was handed down by Supreme Court judge Jennifer Straw, said that it was clear that NEPA “fell woefully short and breached the legal standard of consultation and the legitimate expectation that all the relevant environmental information would be disclosed to the public before approval was given.”