KOROR (Palau Horizon) — The Palau Supreme Court has issued an order stopping the construction of a proposed metal recycling plant in a lagoon at Malakal, citing the owner’s failure to comply with a previous court order.
Associate Justice Larry Miller has issued a permanent injunction and final judgment permanently enjoining Palau Metal Corp. and others associated with the company from building the scrap metal shredding project.
Last year, Associate Justice Kathleen Salii granted the motion for a temporary restraining order sought by the Office of the Special Prosecutor in connection with the nine counts of civil charges it lodged against seven members of the Environmental Quality Protection Board for violating their own rules.
Special Prosecutor Everett Walton also named the Koror state government and PMC as defendants in the civil suit.
OSP charged Paula Holm, Obodei Iyar, Kevin Polloi, Earnest Ongibodel, Norbert Yano, Eugene Uehara and Ben Adelbai, in their capacities as EQPB members, for allowing PMC to begin earthmoving operation without conforming with the guidelines set by the agency.
Walton alleged that EQPB issued the permit without checking the extent of damage that the project could cause to the environment.
Walton further alleged that an environmental assessment submitted to the EQPB did not specifically identify the applicant. Moreover, it did not contain an erosion and sedimentation plan as well as a baseline study indicating marine life population, he said.
In addition, the environmental assessment failed to disclose the kind of equipment that would be used as well as the amount and types of toxic chemicals and their disposal, Walton said.
Despite all this, EQPB still issued a notice of determination stating the project had no significant effects on the environment and that an environmental impact statement was no longer necessary.
The metal shredding project was to be constructed in Malakal, Koror.
In the permanent injunction order, the case against EQPB, the Koror state government and Koror State Public Lands Authority were dismissed without prejudice since the project had already been stopped.
