First District Representative Karl Dawson has raised alarm in the House of Assembly over a resurgence of severe smoke pollution originating from the Pockwood Pond landfill, describing conditions as a mounting public health threat.
Dawson explained that westerly winds are dispersing the smoke across neighbourhoods beyond the immediate landfill area. He noted that when he took office in 2023, the facility was already producing hazardous emissions, but enhanced operational practices had largely contained the problem for roughly eighteen months. That improvement ended in late November 2025, when the smoke returned and has since intensified.
"It's now really once again, a tremendous hazard," Dawson told legislators. He and residents are urging authorities to treat the situation as a matter of national importance requiring coordinated action.
Dawson disclosed that he had arranged a meeting with the Health Minister to review the department's response strategy. "We hope that we'll be able to bring some relief to the people of the first district and any area that is in fact affected," he said.
The landfill's smoke has been a recurring concern for years, triggering complaints from residents about respiratory difficulties and other health consequences. The pollution has drifted as far as St. John in the US Virgin Islands.
In his 2027 Budget Address, Premier and Minister of Finance Dr Natalio Wheatley committed $3 million toward facility improvements. "Our communities deserve cleaner surroundings. Three million dollars will support critical Pockwood Pond incinerator repairs and upgrades," Wheatley announced. The investment will fund rehabilitation work, purchase of a fifty-ton-per-day processing unit, and construction on haul roads and dumping cells.
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