Friends of the Earth Grenada want to reiterate that we do not, cannot and have never supported exploration for geothermal energy.
In our opinion, it is too expensive; there are too many unknowns and too much uncertainty about the outcomes. We do not want Mt St Catherine interfered with in any way, this is another site of pristine ecology which should be left as the people’s heritage.
Mt St Catherine is linked to the water supply for the island. It is part of one of our valuable watersheds, we cannot interfere with our water supply which, in this time of climate change, continues to become scarcer.
It is accepted knowledge that Mt St Catherine is a volcanic site, hence the possibility of geothermal energy, but drilling for this source of energy might leave us vulnerable to more volcanic activity, considering we already have active volcanoes not too far away in Kick em Jenny and her partner.
We urge that in this instance, the new administration chooses to follow the Precautionary Principle, it emphasises caution, pausing and reviewing before leaping into new innovations that may prove disastrous.
There are plenty of other alternative forms of energy in Grenada, solar, wind, wave: these should be the avenues we are considering and following, not pathways which lead to even more destruction of our ecosystems.
We are seeing enough of this in the three major mangroves which are presently being destroyed by developers, namely La Sagesse, Levera and Mt Hartman.
It is not too late to have a proper, inclusive conversation in relation to geothermal exploration in the island. We know that some engagement took place previously to address the issue of geothermal energy but the conversation was not loud enough and not inclusive of all in Grenada.
Friends of the Earth Grenada