investigation is already underway into the dumping of rubble on an environmentally important piece of Devonshire Marsh.

"Officials at the Department of Planning are actively investigating the project and have under review whether it's necessary to take any action,'' he said last Friday during the Motion to Adjourn in the House of Assembly. Mr.

Simons was referring to a project begun last week by Watlington Waterworks and Belco.

The two companies needed solid ground to bury water pipes and power cables to connect a reverse osmosis plant and the Tynes Bay incinerator with a new Belco substation.

They chose to lay rubble on the marsh because Works and Engineering would not allow them to tear up the road as it had just been repaved.

The National Trust and Government Conservation Officer Dr. David Wingate both expressed their anger after learning almost 100-feet of rubble had been laid across the marsh.

Dr. Wingate accused Belco, the water company and Government of having total disregard for the environment.

The rare wetland is zoned "nature reserve'', which forbids development. But an Act of Parliament gives Belco supreme rights when it comes to laying power lines.

Dr. Wingate and the Trust were concerned the 30-foot-wide mound of rubble would destroy the habitats of rare birds in the area as well as natural vegetation including cedar trees.

It was another "ugly blight on the landscape'', Dr. Wingate charged. In a news release signed by president Mr. Andrew Dobson and vice-president Mr.

Jeremy Madeiros, the Bermuda Audubon Society said it was "appalled by ...

the desecration.'' "We cannot understand how such an environmental disaster has been allowed to happen,'' the society said.

The Audubon Society said the Devonshire Marsh was one of Bermuda's few remaining areas of peat marsh habitat and "a vital part of Bermuda's fragile ecosystem''.

It was also home to many unusual species of flora and fauna and an area found aesthetically pleasing by naturalists and walkers.

The Hon. Gerald Simons.