Environment Minister Neletha Butterfield's decision to delist Queen of the East as a grade one historic building essentially puts the final nail in the coffin for any reputation Bermuda had left as a protector of its unique architectural heritage.

Combined with the decision some years ago by former Environment Minister Arthur Hodgson to revoke a contractual agreement under the Development and planning Act to preserve open space at the Chaplin Estate in Warwick and the raft of special development orders either granted or pending to override zonings for hotel and housing developments, it's a wonder that any Progressive Labour Party politician can even utter the words environment or sustainable development without blushing. Why not just talk about development, because conservation and preservation have had their day in Bermuda?

Of course, the Government is under no particular obligation to preserve the environment. It could, if it wished, repeal the Development and Planning Act and allow people to cover the Island with concrete.

One would assume that that will never happen, but it might as well. When agreements to preserve land are ended and when listed buildings are allowed to be delisted, presumably as a precursor to their demolition, then Government's environmental legislation is not worth the paper it is written on.

To be sure, the owners of Queen of the East are now in a difficult position. East Broadway has been allowed to become a canyon of office buildings, while the highway than runs through it makes access to the building quite difficult.

But, as the National Trust said yesterday, that does not mean that the drastic action taken by the owners and the Ministry was necessary. Some effort to find alternatives, including purchase by the Trust itself, was and is possible.

Instead, an important part of Bermuda's heritage, in an area where very little of it is left, will be demolished, and will be gone forever.

The greatest fear now is whether anyone cares.