The Bermuda Environmental Sustainability Taskforce has delivered a mixed review of Government’s Throne Speech, supporting several initiatives while expressing concern about others.

Government announced that it was moving forward with modifying shipping channels to allow larger cruise ships, but in a statement BEST called for Government to first consider the impact of having larger cruise ships.

“Next generations of cruise ships only get larger and larger,” the statement said. “At what point will the discharge of passengers overwhelm our facilities and become a negative experience for local facilities and personnel as well as for the tourists themselves?

“We charge the Bermuda Tourism Authority to diligently examine these issues. The long-term success of tourism will require more than rubber-stamping the practices of the recent past.

“Again and again, we must ask what is the carrying capacity of our Island. At Dockyard and in the western parishes, we have experienced overload for transportation, beachgoing and entertainment when thousands of cruise ship passengers descend on to Dockyard at one time. In the interest of our own image, sanity and credibility, we should be asking how many cruise ship passengers landing at one time on one dock can we provide with a pleasantly memorable tourism experience?”

In the statement, the organisation also said that it was disappointed that several points were not mentioned, including Southlands becoming a park and pesticide-related issues.

While BEST said that it understood that Government did not want to rush into a decision on the Island’s Exclusive Economic Zone, the statement added: “We caution against further study if it serves mostly to delay decision-making.”

While Government said that a new Energy Act would shift greater control to the Regulatory Authority, BEST said the public still needs more information about what role the authority will play.

“Is there going to be a singular authority encompassing telecommunications energy, and other sectors? If that’s the case there certainly needs to be a high-level environmental input as was contemplated by the sustainable development initiative of almost ten years ago,” the statement said. “Or if there are going to several regulatory authorities, their boundaries and responsibilities need to be communicated and made public, before substantive power is devolved to them.”

The organisation said that it has been invited to attend and make contributions to the upcoming Energy Summit, but they had been given little time to prepare a formal submission and they did not know how the contributions made would be used.

BEST said it supports the concept of a large-scale solar plant on the “finger” at LF Wade International Airport, but they wanted more information before fully endorsing the plan.

The organisation said: “The concept of acquiring more of our energy from solar rather than fossil fuels is one we would support in principle. As with many things, it is the details where most scrutiny will be required.

Despite the concerns expressed, the organisation also supported several initiatives announced, including a study of wastewater systems and infrastructure in St George’s.

“Our production of solid and liquid wastes is straining our ability to cope with them,” the statement said. “More and more of our activities ranging from traffic congestion to being overwhelmed with the volume of tourists exiting mega cruise ships to coping with our volumes of waste all indicate a need for the words ‘carrying capacity’ to be integrated into government thinking and policies.”

BEST also expressed support for a proposal to grant the Director of Planning greater powers to investigate and penalise planning breaches, saying that some developers appear to have developed a habit of building first and asking permission later.

“In one case, for example, a developer has submitted at least half a dozen retroactive applications,” BEST said.

“Since retroactive applications are permitted under the Planning Act, there has in the past seemed little that the Department could do to discourage this kind of behaviour. If these new powers will empower the Director of Planning to deal more forcefully with habitual offenders, we will support it wholeheartedly.

Amendments to prevent the disposal of blackwater in inshore environments was also supported, along with Government’s commitment to explore hydroponic vegetable farming and aquaculture, but they called for Government to look into the potential environmental liabilities relating to aquaculture during their investigation.

BEST also supported the development of Ships Wharf, saying they have very little objection to developing brownfield sites, and the proposed erection of a bridge to reconnect the Railway Trail at Store Hill.

“Our support is 100 per cent behind efforts to make the railway right-of-way fully accessible, including the bridge across Bailey’s Bay, the footbridge over Store Hill and at other gaps In the continuity,” the statement said. “As our roads become more and more congested with speeding motorised traffic, it will be even more important to reserve some pathways for pedestrians and pedal cyclists.”