Dear Editor,

There is a massive search on for a missing aircraft in the Indian Ocean. It is taking incredible resources, aircraft, ships, satellite technology, and the reputation of which country will first discover at least some part of the plane. It is a complex operation, but a solution must be found. That is what men use their brains and resources to do, solve complex problems.

Here in the Caribbean, Cahill Energy has signed an agreement with Barbados to build a proposed waste-to-energy plant that will eventually provide as much as 25 per cent of the Caribbean island’s power. It will cost US$240 million and will create 650 jobs initially.

Here in the Caribbean, Cahill Energy has signed an agreement with Barbados to build a proposed waste-to-energy plant that will eventually provide as much as 25 per cent of the Caribbean island’s power. It will cost US$240 million and will create 650 jobs initially.

In Jamaica, we have the Riverton landfill where every year a fire breaks out there. It spews toxic fumes that spread as far as Spanish Town. A government minsiter’s solution to the problem that residents face is encouraging residents who live nearby to simply relocate, even though the Government built a housing scheme to accommodate them right near the same dump. Concievably, we have the Minister of Local Government Noel Arscott, the Minister of Land, Water, Environment, and Climate Change Robert Pickersgill, and the Minister of Science, Technology, Energy, and Mining Phillip Paulwell, and all their staff at the three super-ministries they head, and that’s the best we can come up with? These are the people responsible for the problems we face and there needs to be studied discussion on the perennial problem?

Getting a firm to do in Jamaica what Cahill Energy is doing in Barbados could ensure:

1) A cleaner Jamaica.

2) Employment in the short and long terms

3) A reduction in our fossil fuel energy bill.

4) Less damage to the environment and the release of toxic fumes.

It is unbelievable that we cannot come up with a workable solution to such a simple problem. This isn’t a lost aircraft that failed to navigate or communicate. This is not rocket science. Can any of these ministers tell us why we haven’t already implemented a similar project ahead of Barbados? There has to be an explanation, and we as a people must demand one. Instead of these people talking, talking, talking and flying all over the globe enjoying our tax dollars, they need to be made to explain why we cannot solve a problem that doesn’t take 26 countries and massive resources. They need to use their brains.

Mark Clarke

Siloah PO, St Elizabeth