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<The Councillor as Guardian of the Environment>

An Essay and Workshop for Local Elected Leaders on Environmental Governance
with Emphasis on Adopting Environmentally Sound Technologies (ESTs)
- Training for Elected Leadership -

Part II - Workshop on the Councillor as Guardian of the Environment
- WORKSHOP -

WORKSHOP COMPONENTS

13.1 Warm-up Exercise: A COUNCILLOR'S WORST NIGHTMARE

This workshop opener is to help participants recognize that environmental vigilance begins at home.

Read the incident2 A Matter of Environmental Ethics to participants (see next page).

After participants have heard the situation, divide them into several small groups. Ask each group to answer the following questions about the situation.

1. How do you think a situation like this could have occurred and persisted for so long a time?
2. What action should be taken and by whom to bring responsible officials to justice?
3. What should the present council do in exercising its role as Guardian of the Environment?

After about 30 minutes, reconvene the participants and ask for reports from each small group. Discussion.

A Matter of Environmental Ethics

You were elected as town councillor over ten years ago in this well-known seaside resort community and now have principal oversight responsibility for local authority works maintenance and environmental matters. In a telephone conversation late last week with Barbara Botelho, an official of the national Ministry on Environmental Affairs, you were told that employees of the works department in your local authority have been dumping hazardous chemicals and other debris at 26 sites within local authority boundaries for more than fifteen years. Ms. Botelho said her information came from a letter to the ministry from a former employee of the authority's works department. You learned from a fax copy of the letter sent to you by Ms. Botelho that a road emulsifier containing naphtha and kerosene, oil, and transmission fluid are the chemicals that the former employee claims have been dumped routinely at authority maintained park sites and on public roads. Vague reference was made in the letter to chemical burns experienced by works employees and toxic fume omissions. There was nothing in the letter that revealed the name of the employee who wrote the letter, but many of the employees responsible for the dumpings were mentioned by name. In a later conversation, Ms. Botelho warns you that the ministry is preparing an investigation of the alleged dumpings and that, if the facts support the allegations, the local authority is in possible criminal violation of public law. "Our concern," said Ms. Botelho, "is not only about the possibility of chemical burns suffered by authority workers and releases of toxic vapors, but also the risk of water table contamination." Preliminary investigations conducted by staff members of your office confirm evidence of toxic waste dumping at the 26 sites mentioned in the letter. In interviews with personnel named in the letter, investigators found that the dumpings were performed by works employees who claimed they were acting under the orders of their superiors. When asked by a local newspaper reporter to confirm a tip she has received about toxic chemical dumping and the ministry's concern, you reply: "Our investigations confirm that some dumping of possibly toxic materials has been observed in several locations in public park areas and in ditches along public roads. They [ministry officials] are upset because, at a minimum, we [local authority officials] could be responsible for created unlicensed landfills and introduced hazardous or toxic materials into these landfills in a way that violates the law." Meanwhile, park workers and road crew employees who dumped the material during the last ten years under orders from their superiors are helping local and ministry officials to identify the chemicals and arrange to dispose of them. A price tag on the clean-up has yet to be determined, and it is too early to know if criminal charges will be filed against those who ordered the dumping.

Table of Contents

• Brochure
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• International Year of Forests
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• World Environment Day
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• UNEP Campaign
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