[Coral-List] Blind men and the elephant - Cays and Corals

[Tom Williams]

Mike/Todd/List

My basic idea was taking what Todd had put on and get
rid of the spectulation and get down to what the
"developer" means as reasonable and practical - what
is the commitment. 

I have prepared or contributed to more than 300 EIA,
EIS, EIR, etc. and watched how the "recommended
mitigations" became required mitigation and became the
"Environmental Management Plan".  All of these
reflected that many scientists can provide measures to
eliminate/mitigate/compensate for the damages.

Now measures are assigned for "significant" impacts. 
For me, ANY impacts on the coral reef can be
SIGNIFICANT.

Todd referred to measures already accepted, scientists
involved, but offers no specifics and no further
details as to what we can expect if we provide our
time - less than one week.  

I have worked on the same issues in Kahe Point, Ohau
(30 years ago), Nakheel islands in Dubai (1995-2005),
and similar project in Bahrain (2005-2006). Measures
are easy, funding/implementation are the problems, why
should we contribute unless the "Developer" is going
to implement.  I can give you at least three
alternatives to every impact on the corals.

I have seen many requirements, regulations, and laws
passed and not enforced.  Let's not give measures if
the Developer has no commitment to implement.

Thinking POSITIVE is easy, ACTING POSITIVE is
expensive.

Let's look at the costs.

$500M capital investment
30% annual rate of return
3-5 year repayment of capital costs
$150M annual profit

Envir. Contribution - Example - 80Kft x 200ft =
16,000,000 sq ft = $10/sq ft = 3.0% annually

So Set 10% of capital and 10% of profits for 10 years.
 Is this POSITIVE????

I once told a developer that he could get his permit
if he put into bank guarantee - $1M for use by the
environ. agency - he chose to await agency
process/procedures.

So let's give the Developer a proposal and see where
he goes. 

But let's document the process for use by both sides.

Tom Williams
1-650-558-9590 SF
1-323-528-4687 SF
+971-50-559-0210 Dubai