Like oil and water

SHE READILY serves a bottle of WATA and with a good-natured smile adds, "I've been hearing about a plan to build an oil refinery here since I was a child but ... I don't know ... some people don't think it's a good idea, this is a fishing area you see and some people feel the oil and the sea don't 'gree."

Like many others, bartender Merdell Watson has caught wind of the idea that the eco-cultural consequences which stem from the pristine beauty of a 3,000-hectare Font Hill property in St. Elizabeth, will give way to ripples of industrial commerce if the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica (PCJ) establishes an oil refinery, petrochemical facility and airstrip on portions of the estate.

From the time that the Government of Jamaica vested the estate into the hands of the PCJ in 1979 for the specific purpose of establishing an oil refinery, the estate, since those failed attempts, has become a site for commercial agriculture, fuel wood production, wildlife conservation and ecotourism.

It boasts more than 50 species of plants and over 80 species of birds, some of which are very rare.

A haven of healthy mangroves, it provides a delicate habitat for four species of crabs and three species of nesting turtles. Equally striking are the large American crocodile and West Indian whistling duck populations that inhabit the sanctuary.

COLLABORATION WITH AMERICANS

But the life of the old experiment has not been extinguished and again there are talks that the PCJ might make another attempt at refining petroleum and this time they will be able to finance it with help from the Americans.

Dr. Raymond Wright, group managing director of PCJ, shunned any idea of a move to partner with KM&L, the company that has shown interest in the project. "For now it's just a concept," said Dr. Wright.

"I haven't even decided to participate in the project, because to me it's not a project. No proposal has been made to PCJ that has any engineering basis," argues the group director.

An ardent scholar of geology, Dr. Wright has received the Commander of the Order of Distinction and the Chubb Award for Excellence, and is aware that an environmental impact assessment has to be considered before the wind of fossilised ideas be granted project status.

The PCJ boasts a proud environmental track record. It is also the steward of one of the best beach parks in the area and is a pioneer in the fields of agriculture and guest housing. So PCJ's mood of industrial development in the area comes as a surprise to some in the tourist industry who fear that such an endeavour will be met with a decline in visits to the burgeoning tourist retreat or, worst, permanent damage to the treasured ecosystem.