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The Chief Justice, Mrs Georgina Theodora Wood, has encouraged trained prosecutors of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to prosecute environmental offenders without discrimination. She said the siting of filling and gas stations very close to residential areas, the unregulated use of pesticides in some parts of the country and the use of banned pesticides for fishing such as DDT were real threats to the environment. �The indiscriminate storage and disposal of industrial waste and their associated health hazards are environmental risks that should not be tolerated in society today,� the Chief Justice said. Speaking at the closing session of a training workshop for environmental prosecutors in Accra yesterday, Justice Wood stated that �very soon we may all suffer from the downstream effects of illegal mining, polluted bodies and other environmental pollutions if we do not act.� Training The 13-day event, aimed at building the capacity of 28 technical staff of the EPA to prosecute environmental offences, was organised and sponsored by the EPA. The participants will be attached to the courts to prosecute environmental offences after their training. Protect the environment Justice Wood said the EPA Act, Act 490 which established the EPA and further provided its functions, made the agency the main governmental body tasked to advise on environmental issues and to recommend to the Minister of Environment, Science and Technology the formulation of policies for the protection of the environment. �The Act further mandates the EPA to control the generation, treatment, storage, transportation and disposal of industrial waste and to prevent the discharge of waste into the environment and to ensure that the environment is protected and improved,� the Chief Justice said. Ready for mandate The Executive Director of the EPA, Mr D. S. Amlalo, said the Authority was 40 years old but one of the problems that existed before the agency was established still prevailed, causing unnecessary deaths. He said although the agency had countless cases to address, it was constrained, and added that they were grateful that the Chief Justice had encouraged them. �We, however, request for more training programmes, dedicated courts to try environmental cases and create awareness of environmental issues,� Mr Amlalo said. The Director of the Judicial Training Institute (JTI), Mr Justice Dennis Adjei, advised the beneficiaries to utilise the knowledge and skills they had acquired to save the environment.