Date: 1988-07-14
Speaker: DE LUGO (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. preservation of our environment in the U.S. Virgin Islands and Caribbean is a constant struggle. The fragile balances of our marine life. plant life. animals. birds. and scenery are seriously threatened by modern development. I want to speak. first. about one of the most ominous current threats. ocean dumping of garbage. and second. one of our talented people who has dedicated most of his adult life to protecting our environment. George Seaman of St. Croix. The two fit together. When recent press reports In the Virgin Islands alerted us to the dangers of ocean dumping. who was the primary source? George Seaman. speaking out to protect the land and sea that he loves. We learned recently that a stateside company had been talking with our neighbors in the Caribbean about dumping statewide garbage in our region. This particular company. Waste Central Inc. ot Philadelphia. was negotiating with olficials from the Netherland Antilles Island of Saba. 80 miles east of St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands. about paying a siza. ble fee to deposit its garbage in the waters off of Saba. It would all be safe. they said. All encased in concrete. they said. It could become a reef or even a healthy small island. they said. No problems. they said. We have heard those reassurance before. and will not fall for them this time around. This dumping scheme would spell disaster for the Virgin Islands and for our entire region. As one Saba official said in the news accounts. It would make no difference if the garbage happened to leak because the currents would carry it straight out to sea. toward the U.S. and British Virgin Islands. This dumping scheme is particulary dangerous and infuriating because it shows a United States company using big money to export its problems to the poor islands of the Caribbean. Those fees may be small change for a stateside company. but they can look very big and very entic. ing to the islands of the Caribbean. As it turned out. these Saban olficials iosponded to public pressure and turned down the deal. But we have to act now to prevent anyone else from turning the waters of the Caribbean into their garbage dump. We dont need garbage from Philadelphia or anywhere else in the United States spoiling our coasts and waters. our fisheries and natural bounty. I am urging this administration to enforce the environmental regulations and international agreements that will prevent this sort of travesty. I also urge my colleagues here to pass the additional laws that will prevent this sort of exploitation. The countries of the Caribbean will have to work together. and the United States will have to work with them. to protect one another. We have made some progress with laws that regulate the dumping of plastics and toxics. but we have to keep up a vigilant effort until we find the combination of laws and enforcement powers that will stop anyone from using the Caribbean as theit dumping ground. On a happier note. it Is only fitting that George Seaman should be the source for these news accounts. once again alerting us to the dangers to our environment. George Is a dashing. 84yearold figure who is well known on St. Croix. where he was born in 1904. He spent his boyhood exploring the island when it was sparkling and pristine. and a young lad could spend glorious days huntInj. fishing. and admiring creation. In a recent profile of Seaman in the San Juan Star. he described his boyhood in that setting as "about the closest thing to fulfillment this side of judgment day." George was an adventurous soul. who spent his early manhood on expeditions and businesses In Panama. Venezuela. the Dominican Republic. the South Seas of the Pacific and other exotic areas. Thankfully. in 1949 we lured him back to St. Croix where he became wildlife supervisor of the Department of Fish and Wildlife until his retirement in 1969. when he moved on to the island of Saba. He devoted himself to studying our deer. birds. mongoose. and other animals. He published valuable research reports. filled with his observations and data. that now are major sources of inlormation on the wildlife that existed in our islands 20 to 40 years ago. He also recommended steps to preserve the areas that support these species. Construction and development have taken their toll since 1969. but we have made some progress in setting aside small cays and coastal areas as natural preserves. as he urged us to do. George also has picked up his pen and written several books that reflect our unique folk culture and environment in the Virgin Islands. His first. "The Virgin Islands Dictionary." is a collection of Cruzan definitions published in 1967. Since then he has added "Sticks From the Hawks Nest." a collection of nature essays. "Ay. Ay: An Island Almanac." about our changing tropical seasons. "Not So Cat Walk." a book of Cruzan proverbs. and "Sadly Cries the Plover." a collection of poems. George Seaman has taken great joy in studying our wildlife and protecting our environment. But now he is giving us an ominous warning abut the hazards of ocean dumping. I. for one. take him at his word and plan to do what I can to be sure that this hazard is averted. I urge the administration and all my colleagues in Congress to join me in taking action to preserve the beautiful waters of the Caribbean.