CONGO TOWN, Montserrado—Residents of the community housing Lonestar Cell MTN say they are “happy” for the recent $US15,000 fine imposed on the company by Liberia’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The fine, one of the first since the 2004 Environmental Protection and Management Law of Liberia came into effect, was imposed by the agency over alleged environmental noise pollution by the company’s generators.
By Aria Deemie, climate, environment, and science reporter with New Narratives
The move followed years of complaints from residents of the Devine Town community here in Congo Town. The EPA said the company, a subsidiary of MTN Group, a South African telecom giant, failed to fully implement required mitigation measures against the pollution despite previous warnings. In interviews with FrontPage Africa/New Narratives, residents said they felt relieved by the agency’s decision.
“Once the generator is on, you can be all the way to YWCA junction and hear the loud noise,” said Mr. Randall Zuo, 24, who said he spent his evenings in a video club in the community or far from his home to avoid the noise. “Certain machines they had here, I don’t know if the absorb got a problem. It used to really make noise.”
“When we have no electricity, that generator can be really loud,” said Mr. Isaac Quwebin, the town’s chairman, who lives less than a three-minute drive behind Lonestar’s facility. “The noise can enter people’s ears and disturb their sleep.”
Although there isn’t available data on noise pollution in Liberia, the EPA says the issue is a major concern here. The United States’ EPA says noise pollution can also lead to “stress-related illnesses, high blood pressure, speech interference, hearing loss, sleep disruption, and lost productivity.”
Mr. Nick Benito Goll, a Liberian environmental health expert, warned that the health impact of noise pollution was severe but often ignored in Liberia.
“Excessive noise can damage the inner ear, commonly known as the eardrum,” Mr. Goll said in an interview. “It affects people with hypertension, can lead to sleep deprivation, and interferes with concentration and learning.”
There are no medical records to show whether any residents in this town developed health problems from the noise pollution. Dr. Emmanuel Yarkpawolo, EPA executive director, said they only calculated the noise levels during their environmental analysis.
“We did not test people because we are not medical professionals,” Dr. Yarkpawolo. The EPA is yet to confirm if Lonestar has paid the fine. The company did not respond to requests for comment. In addition to the fine, the EPA “recommended to Lonestar Cell MTN to install effective silencers for all their generators because they’re emitting excess noise.”
“But as our team concluded its investigation on April 24th, this recommendation had not been implemented,” said Dr. Yarkpawolo. “The existing silencers are inbuilt and insufficient to minimize noise levels to the recommended standard.”
Mr. Goll urged the EPA “to be proactive” by addressing other aspects of noise pollution in the country.
“Noise pollution is happening across our environment, and little is being done,” said Mr. Goll. “What about those playing loud music in street corners? What about the churches with outdoor loudspeakers? There’s a regulation, but enforcement is the problem. The EPA also lacks environmental monitoring stations to track noise and other parameters in real time.”
Mr. Zuo echoed Mr. Goll’s sentiment.
“You got to show example that other people will follow,” said Mr. Randall. “The way they started with the machine people, they should also do it to the car owners, too. You can’t say machine making noise and polluting the air, then you have smoking cars passing all over the streets.”
The agency’s fine against Lonestar came just days after the Financial Intelligence Agency also fined the company more than $US125,000 or $LRD 25 million for its alleged repeated failures to comply with Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism regulations.
This story was a collaboration with New Narratives. Funding was provided by the American Jewish World Service. The donor had no say in the story’s content.
