DP Chairman Accuses Statia's Government of Lack of Transparency

In today's Daily Herald, Chairman of St. Eustatius Democratic Party Ernie Simmons, expresses some harsh words about the ruling coalition partners in Statia's government. Among other things, he accuses the coalition of a lack of transparency concerning the NuStar expansion plans. He states:

"Three political leaders of parties are meeting privately with NUstar regarding the expansion plans of the Statia Oil Terminal. No information regarding these meetings is made available to the Island Council. No one seems to know what they are discussing, what are their wishes and demands and what promises are being made." Read the full article

UNESCO Nomination File: St. Eustatius as World Heritage Site

Why we think St. Eustatius is of "outstanding universal value" and can meet the cultural and natural criteria of UNESCO:

• Cultural: "Bears a unique or exceptional testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilization which is living or which has disappeared"(UNESCO 3rd criteria)
  See blog entry "Heritage Trail"

• Natural: "Contains the most important and significant natural habitats for in-situ conservation of biological diversity, including those containing threatened species of outstanding universal value from the point of view of science or conservation." (UNESCO 10th criteria) 
  See blog entry "Statia: 'Ecological wonder of nature'"

Statia is also of great value to UNESCO's Slave Route Project

SEAD wrote a letter to UNESCO to help us protect our outstanding universal values. Read the article in The Daily Herald (July 18, 2011)

Destruction of Coral Reefs

In 2007 Stenapa published an impact study that showed that NuStar's oil vessels caused considerable damage to Statia's marine park.

According to the same report, the marine park is one of the top 5 sites in the Caribbean to see healthy coral and fish populations.

A few quotations from the report:

"Anchoring is the main threat to the marine resources caused by the operations of Statia Terminals NV, although pollution is also an important issue with sewage and other wastes including ballast waters entering St Eustatius Marine Park waters from vessels."

"Anchors cause damage to coral reefs during setting, retrieval, and while at anchor;

• Setting: Corals are broken, fragmented, or overturned as the anchor drops into the substratum.
• While at anchor: Once set, further damage occurs by the chain dragging across the substratum or rapping around reef structures
• Retrieval: anchors are dragged along the substrate as the vessel manoeuvres, turning reef into rubble and leaving an anchorage scar.

Coral takes thousands of years to build and the dragging and swinging of large anchor cables and chains destroys coral heads and creates gouges and scars that destabilize the reef structure. The fragile nature of coral reefs also means that they do not provide for stable anchoring. Regeneration of coral reefs from such damage may never occur."

Source: Tanker Anchoring Impact Study and Recommendations St Eustatius Marine Park, by St. Eustatius National Parks (Stenapa), October 2007, page 8. Retrieved August 28, 2011

Statia: 'Ecological wonder of nature'

Photo from Stenapa website

"Statia has special trees, snakes, sea turtles, birds, whales and fish. It is surrounded by coral reefs and meadows of sea grass on which the sea turtle feeds. On the island desert-like areas with cactus gradually make way for rainforest and primeval forest. The entire picture answers to the cliché of a tropical island paradise. There are complete ecosystems and habitats where the most exceptional sorts of plants and animals can be found. Threatened species such as the red-bellied racer snake, the lesser Antillean iguana, the giant queen conch shell and the brown pelican feel at home here. ‘Or species that were believed to have become extinct, such as the Statia morning glory''"  

Fragment from the article "St. Eustatius: A Diamond in the Rough" by Baud Schoenmaeckers in Change Magazine, special issue on Biodiversity on Bonaire, Statia and Saba, 2011, Volume 6 (2010), Issue 3, page 18.

History of Schotsenhoek Plantation

"There is a lot of commotion around the proposed plans to expand the oil terminal on Sint Eustatius. It is primarily built on the former cattle plantation “Schotsenhoek.” It is interesting to know some of the history of the plantation and its former owners. In this article I will also quote from correspondence with my friend Walter Hellebrand of Sint Eustatius."



Article in The Daily Herald of Friday, August 19, 2011 on the history of the Schotsenhoek Plantation by Will Johnson. Read the full article