More than 19 measures regarding forest fires and 18,000 case files for noises

SANTO DOMINGO. More than 18,000 complaints against persons accused of causing environmental contamination because of noise, 100 related to the felling of trees to make charcoal and the requirements of mechanisms of supervision for the permits for the extraction of material from rivers, form part of the actions for the defense of the environment.

This balance sheet is by the director of the Specialized Prosecutor for the Defends of the Environment and the Natural Resources, Francia Calderon, who warned of the increase in the cases reported on sonic contamination.

"Before the arrival of the 9-1-1 System we received a little over 1000 complaints, just imagine 18,000 in a couple of months and the huge work load that we have here," she said, after noting that since 15 January of this year they have registered this growth.

She called fighting the noise "a major challenge."

The rivers

Calderon described as a great worry the extraction of materials from the rivers, so that work has been stopped which even had authorization from the Ministry of the Environment.

"They give the permits, they are the part that really has the authority and ability to issue the permits, but what I want is supervision when they issue a permit."

She said she feels that they should not remove thousands of cubic meters (of sand and gravel) from the rivers without any control, and they have to know which places can be exploited. Calderon said that she is working on more than 100 case files regarding the cutting and burning of trees to make charcoal and then sell it.

She repeated that there are "powerful persons and with a lot of money and weapons behind all of this."