Court stays NCC decisions until full hearing

(CNS): The minority UPM government’s controversial attempt to politicise the National Conservation Council and upend its legal apolitical remit, which is to make evidence and science-based decisions to protect Cayman’s environment, was stalled by the court on Tuesday. Justice Marlene Carter has ordered that the new NCC must not make any decisions until the court hears a full judicial review next month.

The JR was filed by two of the six ousted scientists and experts, Stuart Mailer and Patricia Bradley.

With the substantial hearing almost six weeks away, their lawyer, Chris Butler KC, had sought a stay in the interim to either reinstate the original appointed council members or to stop the decision-making of the new members, who were appointed by Cabinet in February, until the court finds whether or not they were appointed unlawfully.

The court ordered that the new council, which has been officially gazetted, cannot make any decisions. In the case of an emergency, the NCC will need to make representations to the court to do anything of substance.

Gilbert McLean (the new chairman), Arden McLean, Ezzard Miller, Kenny Ryan, Steve McField, Paula Tathum and Captain Eugene Ebanks were all appointed by the UPM minority Cabinet in what the ousted members have called an act of revenge, given the obvious hostility that the administration had shown to the NCC.

Mailer and his colleagues believe the hostility is largely because they continued to do their work based on science and not the UPM’s political will. They had navigated several successful legal battles with the Central Planning Authority and continued to champion the National Conservation Act that the UPM government had tried to gut.

The UPM fired Mailer, Bradley and Lisa Hurlston, who are all scientists, as well as district representatives Steve Broadbelt, Lucille Seymour and Pierre Foster before their appointment period was up and without any apparent cause. Only Ian Kirkham, now the lone scientist among the appointed members, avoided the mass firing.

The National Conservation Act requires members to have environmental qualifications and expertise. However, the experts and scientists were ousted in favour of four former politicians and other members, none of whom have any relevant scientific qualifications or expertise in relevant subjects such as environmental management or conservation.

The exception could be Kenny Ryan, who, as District Commissioner, spearheaded the push to grow nature tourism in the Sister Islands.

But other new members are not only not qualified but are opposed to the NCA and deny the accepted science, especially on wetlands and other issues, and have bragged about their anti-conservation positions.

Mailer and Bradley, who are both dedicated and tireless advocates for Cayman’s natural resources, turned to the courts to continue their fight. They have argued that they have a very strong case that the outgoing government was trying to circumvent the will of parliament when it ousted them all from the council.

The minority government had attempted to take the scientists off the council through an amendment bill. But as they no longer had a mandate to govern and couldn’t get any support for the controversial legislation from the opposition benches, the bill was withdrawn during the last sitting of parliament before it was prorogued ahead of the election.

However, within a matter of days, the government published in the gazette an order firing six of the seven appointed members and appointing seven non-scientists in a clear attempt to achieve what they had tried to do with the legislation.

The UPM cabinet was also trying to put an end to the very limited powers the NCC has under the law to curtail some of the most egregious development after decades of an unbridled free-for-all in which its impact on Cayman’s once pristine natural environment was never considered at all.

The future of the Department of Environment’s ability to conserve our rapidly dwindling natural resources and prepare these islands to meet the risks presented by climate change now largely hangs in the balance until 30 April. The election result, it now seems, will determine the fate of Cayman’s future protection or rejection of the environment.

A new government mash-up of the remnants of the now disbanded UPM and the new PPM will undoubtedly weaken the conservation law and ensure these political appointees remain on the board. Even if the court finds that their predecessors were removed unlawfully, should that group secure a majority, they will only have to wait until August, when the members’ tenure would be officially at an end, to make their political appointments.

However, if the TCCP is able to secure a majority, the members of that party have made a serious commitment to keeping the NCA intact. Wayne Panton, a founding member of the party, drafted and steered through the historic conservation legislation while he was environment minister.

In a TCCP-led government, he would be in a position to ensure that the NCC continues to count scientists among its membership and pursues evidence-based decisions to preserve the country’s natural resources for everyone.

While the CINP has a number of members who are touting their environmental credentials, it’s not clear where the party leadership stands on the conservation act and the make-up of the council’s appointees. According to the priority policy goals, the party is committed to creating a legacy of beneficial infrastructure with due respect for our environment, but it does not give specifics on preserving the law and the council’s political neutrality

---