EPA sanctions Ghana Bauxite Company, Friday, October 7, 2011, Back pg
The Ghana Bauxite Company Limited has incurred the wrath of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for refusing to submit its monthly environmental monitoring data for processing in the 2010 Public Disclosure for Environmental Performance Rating Programme.
Ghana Bauxite, the only company in the entire Akoben Programme to have declined the submission of its environmental reports, therefore, faces regulatory actions, including legal proceedings and financial penalties which are not specified by the EPA.
Under the Akoben initiative, the environmental performance of mining and manufacturing operations is assessed using a five-colour rating scheme. The colours are gold, green, blue, orange and red, indicating environmental performance ranging from excellent to poor.
These ratings measure the environmental performance of companies based on their day-to-day operations once they have successfully cleared their Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and obtained their environmental permit to operate.
These ratings are annually disclosed to the public and aim at strengthening public awareness of and participation in environmental protection.
In this year’s results announced yesterday which looked at 50 manufacturing and 11 mining companies, Diamond Cement topped the list of the Most Environmentally Conscious Companies in the country with a green grading.
Three other companies — Abosso Goldfields Limited (Damang Mine), Newmont Ghana Gold Limited (Kenyasi) and Ferro Fabrik Limited — were graded blue, which is rated good.
This year’s ratings are an improvement over last year’s, which had most of the participating companies rated orange, just a mark below poor performance.
While in the mining sector AngloGold Ashanti (Iduapriem and Obuasi), Golden Star (Bogoso/Prestea), Prestea Sankofa Gold Limited (Kenyasi) and Gold Fields Ghana Limited (Tarkwa) were all rated red, representing poor performance, 24 companies in the manufacturing sector, including Juaben Oil Mills Limited, Kinapharma, Myroc Food Processing, Pioneer Food Cannery, Unilever Ghana Limited (Tema Factory), Phyto-Riker Pharmaceuticals Limited, the Accra and Kumasi abattoirs, the Tema Oil Refinery, PZ Cussons Industries Ghana Limited and SBC Beverages Limited, were also rated red.
Others which had red rating were Logs and Lumber Limited, Naja David Veneer and Plywood Limited, Obooma Farm Products Limited, Aluworks Limited, Azar Chemical Industries Limited, BBC Industrial Company Limited, Cadbury Ghana Limited, Cocoa Processing Company Limited, Crocodile Machetes Ghana Limited and Expom Ghana Limited,
The rest are Tema Lube Oil Company Limited, Super Paper Products Limited, Special Steel Limited, Polykraft Ghana Limited, Printex Limited and Tema Steel Company Limited.
The Minister of Environment, Science and Technology, Ms Hanny-Sherry Ayittey, who announced the results, urged the companies to maintain their continual improvement to achieve better ratings, as available data showed that companies had already improved their compliance with permits and were regularly monitoring and reporting their emissions and discharges.
“As a country, natural resources are our main economic assets and the Akoben programme is a vital tool for good environmental governance and sustenance,” she said.
The minister, while commending the companies that received the green and blue ratings, urged those down the rating ladder to work hard to shed their image as companies that were polluting and degrading the environment.
The acting Director of the EPA, Mr Daniel Amlalo, for his part, said the programme was being expanded to include hotels and oil distribution companies, in addition to expanding it to cover more manufacturing companies.
He observed that in less than a year, the programme had had a profound impact on how manufacturing and mining companies managed their environment, while at the same time changing the way the EPA regulated environmental issues.
“Instead of relying only on the court system for compliance, we now have public discourse and information dissemination through the media as an additional compliance enforcement instrument,” he stated.
Additionally, the EPA boss said, as part of measures to develop cleaner cities across the country, the EPA would soon introduce a “Clean City Programme” using the Akoben framework with a focus on waste management, surface and drinking water quality, ambient, air quality and other environmental aspects valued by residents.
Since the beginning of the Akoben Programme design in 2008, the EPA has conducted hundreds of site audits and verification visits and has built one of the most advanced environmental databases and computerised rating systems to ensure accuracy, consistence and timeliness of ratings analysis.
Ghana Bauxite, the only company in the entire Akoben Programme to have declined the submission of its environmental reports, therefore, faces regulatory actions, including legal proceedings and financial penalties which are not specified by the EPA.
Under the Akoben initiative, the environmental performance of mining and manufacturing operations is assessed using a five-colour rating scheme. The colours are gold, green, blue, orange and red, indicating environmental performance ranging from excellent to poor.
These ratings measure the environmental performance of companies based on their day-to-day operations once they have successfully cleared their Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and obtained their environmental permit to operate.
These ratings are annually disclosed to the public and aim at strengthening public awareness of and participation in environmental protection.
In this year’s results announced yesterday which looked at 50 manufacturing and 11 mining companies, Diamond Cement topped the list of the Most Environmentally Conscious Companies in the country with a green grading.
Three other companies — Abosso Goldfields Limited (Damang Mine), Newmont Ghana Gold Limited (Kenyasi) and Ferro Fabrik Limited — were graded blue, which is rated good.
This year’s ratings are an improvement over last year’s, which had most of the participating companies rated orange, just a mark below poor performance.
While in the mining sector AngloGold Ashanti (Iduapriem and Obuasi), Golden Star (Bogoso/Prestea), Prestea Sankofa Gold Limited (Kenyasi) and Gold Fields Ghana Limited (Tarkwa) were all rated red, representing poor performance, 24 companies in the manufacturing sector, including Juaben Oil Mills Limited, Kinapharma, Myroc Food Processing, Pioneer Food Cannery, Unilever Ghana Limited (Tema Factory), Phyto-Riker Pharmaceuticals Limited, the Accra and Kumasi abattoirs, the Tema Oil Refinery, PZ Cussons Industries Ghana Limited and SBC Beverages Limited, were also rated red.
Others which had red rating were Logs and Lumber Limited, Naja David Veneer and Plywood Limited, Obooma Farm Products Limited, Aluworks Limited, Azar Chemical Industries Limited, BBC Industrial Company Limited, Cadbury Ghana Limited, Cocoa Processing Company Limited, Crocodile Machetes Ghana Limited and Expom Ghana Limited,
The rest are Tema Lube Oil Company Limited, Super Paper Products Limited, Special Steel Limited, Polykraft Ghana Limited, Printex Limited and Tema Steel Company Limited.
The Minister of Environment, Science and Technology, Ms Hanny-Sherry Ayittey, who announced the results, urged the companies to maintain their continual improvement to achieve better ratings, as available data showed that companies had already improved their compliance with permits and were regularly monitoring and reporting their emissions and discharges.
“As a country, natural resources are our main economic assets and the Akoben programme is a vital tool for good environmental governance and sustenance,” she said.
The minister, while commending the companies that received the green and blue ratings, urged those down the rating ladder to work hard to shed their image as companies that were polluting and degrading the environment.
The acting Director of the EPA, Mr Daniel Amlalo, for his part, said the programme was being expanded to include hotels and oil distribution companies, in addition to expanding it to cover more manufacturing companies.
He observed that in less than a year, the programme had had a profound impact on how manufacturing and mining companies managed their environment, while at the same time changing the way the EPA regulated environmental issues.
“Instead of relying only on the court system for compliance, we now have public discourse and information dissemination through the media as an additional compliance enforcement instrument,” he stated.
Additionally, the EPA boss said, as part of measures to develop cleaner cities across the country, the EPA would soon introduce a “Clean City Programme” using the Akoben framework with a focus on waste management, surface and drinking water quality, ambient, air quality and other environmental aspects valued by residents.
Since the beginning of the Akoben Programme design in 2008, the EPA has conducted hundreds of site audits and verification visits and has built one of the most advanced environmental databases and computerised rating systems to ensure accuracy, consistence and timeliness of ratings analysis.
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