Dear Members of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, It is with great concern that we, a group of concerned citizens

from St. Eustatius, Dutch Caribbean, write to you. St. Eustatius is a small island in the Caribbean, part of the Dutch Kingdom. During the 17th and 18th century, it was one of the busiest ports in the Western hemisphere trading enslaved Africans, guns, sugar, supplies etc. During the American war of independence, St. Eustatius supplied the United States with arms to fight the British army. The British admiral Rodney made St. Eustatius pay a high price for this by invading the island in 1781, emptying its warehouses and deporting its merchants. Because of its relatively isolated position, many remains from the islands past heydays are still present, on land, under the ground and in the ocean. Today, the island's major sources of income come from small scale tourism and a large multinational petroleum storage and terminalling facility, Nustar Energy L.P. At the moment Nustar Energy has 58 tanks located on the island with a capacity of over thirteen million barrels. Recently, the word was brought out that NuStar wants to establish a new facility on St. Eustatius with an additional 40 tanks and another jetty. Seeing the scope of the island (8.1 square miles or 21 square kilometers), we feel that the expansion of this multinational company on such a small island is out of proportion. It is already very visibly present with oil tanks on land, and a jetty and numerous tankers in sea. Issues of concern in the community relate to safety, pollution, damage to coral reef and marine life. However, it is the location of the planned expansion that is really causing great concern for us. The expansion is planned in an area known as The Farm, a very valuable historical site with several slave cemeteries among other archeological artifacts. These cemeteries are an essential part of the historical heritage of the people of St. Eustatius (as African descendants), and are of extreme value for the whole Caribbean region as well. They cannot be destroyed by bulldozers and replaced by oil tanks! An archaeological research was carried out in this area between February and April 2011 (http://uclan.academia.edu/RuudStelten/Papers/688984/Stelten_Ruud_2011_NuStar_Archaeol ogical_Watching_Brief_Report_on_the_FebruaryApril_Campaign_in_the_Cul_de_Sac_Area_St._Eustatius). The conclusions and recommendations of the published Watching Brief of this research are very clear: "Given the important historical value of the archaeological sites discovered during this campaign, it is recommended they are left in situ and preserved for posterity wherever possible as recommended by the Malta Treaty. This is particularly the case for sites 4, 5, and 10, which are interpreted as slave cemeteries. Site 5 may be one of the largest slave cemeteries ever found in the Caribbean. Site 8 is of great historical value as well, as a former Governor of St. Maarten, a former Governor of St. Eustatius, a grandfather of Abraham Ravene, and several planters were buried here. Descendants of these people should be contacted and asked what they prefer should happen to their ancestorsremains." (p. 62)

The report also states that St. Eustatius has the largest concentration of archaeological sites of any area of comparable size in the Americas (p.4). We are a group of concerned citizens of St. Eustatius fighting against a multi-billion dollar multinational. The local government of the island, with its limited resources, is not an equal partner in the discussions with this multinational. They are open to the expansion because of the supposed extra tax income and the creation of new jobs. We are urging you to please advise us how to best handle this situation:

Could UNESCO help us with legal advice or counseling? Could UNESCO help us reach out to the international community to prevent the expansion? Could UNESCO write a letter of concern to our local government? Could UNESCO advise, help or support us in any other way?

We thank you kindly for your time to read our letter, and we hope to have convinced you of the prodigious damage that the expansion of the oil terminal will do to our beautiful historical island in general, and the remains of our forefathers in particular. Looking forward to your response, we remain, Sincerely, Mr. Kenneth Cuvalay on behalf of St. Eustatius Awareness and Development movement (SEAD) (grassroots movement) Mr. Paul. W. Spanner on behalf of Statia Roots (grassroots movement) Mr. Walter Hellebrand, historian Attached: Open letter to the Executive Council of St. Eustatius d.d. July 17, 2011