EQPB

My primary assignment in Palau is to work at the Environmental Quality Protection Board (EQPB).   Although somewhat similar to a local planning office in the U.S., the way the EQPB operates and the functions it performs are significantly different from U.S. or European planning departments. 

The EQPB is a semi-autonomous agency of the executive branch of Palau’s government.  The Board meets every two weeks and is composed of seven members appointed by the President of Palau.  It is the lead government agency for the environmental protection of the land, sea, and air resources of the Republic of Palau.  Board meetings are usually at night, since the Board members are ordinary citizens.  Most are retirees, but a few have day jobs.  They are paid for the meetings they attend.

Palau’s Environmental Quality Protection Act of 1981 (Title 24 of the National Code) was created to “ensure greater protection of the unique and aesthetically beautiful environment while promoting sustainable economic and social development that would achieve the financial goals of the people of the Republic.”  The EQPB is to disseminate and enforce regulations addressing the following nine topics:  earthmoving, marine and fresh water quality, toilet and wastewater disposal facilities, solid waste management, pesticides, public water supply systems, environmental impact statements, air pollution control, and ozone depleting substances.

How is the EQPB at all similar to a U.S. local planning office you might ask?  Well, here’s how:  If someone wants to construct a building, do a renovation, move some earth, or virtually do anything that might impact the environment, they must apply for permission to the EQPB.  In due course the Board will issue the applicant a permit to proceed.  This also applies to the16 Palau state governments, who must make application to the Board to build or improve roads.

The Board has a full-time staff of about 15, headed by an Executive Officer.  The staff evaluates applications, makes site visits and places conditions on permits.  The staff is also supposed to monitor the work, once it is started by the permittee.  (I’ll have more to say about this in a future posting).  Once the staff completes it's work, the application is reviewed by the Board who approve the permit or might ask for modifications, before the permittee can proceed.  The Board also has the authority to issue fines.  

 

This is the entrance to the EQPB.  It's not glamorous and looks and feels like warehouse space.

Since working at the EQPB I have attended three Board meetings.  At each of those meetings three to five fines of from $2,000 to $500,000 were discussed and issued.  In some cases a person or organization who was previously fined will appear before the Board to appeal, usually represented by a lawyer.  One of the EQPB staff members is a lawyer who advises the Board on the interpretation of the Environmental Quality Protection Act.

Fines over $10,000 are very rare.  The one for $500,000 involved the damage to a local coral reef caused by the accidental grounding of a tourist boat.   This accident occurred in August and was the first known damage to a local coral reef.  An environmental consulting group had made an assessment of the damage and provided ways to set the fine.  They based their recommendations on research done in the Philippines on a similar accident.  I was able to obtained the original Philippine research (isn’t the internet great) and wrote a short paper for our in-house lawyer assessing the consulting report conclusions.  The lawyer did her own assessment, then made recommendations to the Board.

There are some other related function carried out by the EQPB staff, for example, the office maintains a lab for monitoring water quality.  As an aside, unlike many places I’ve visited, the tap water in Koror is perfectly safe.  (That does not hold for other parts of Palau.)

Well this is more than enough about where I work.  I only provided this information as a bit of background for my next posting.