Minister of Environment and Sports, Glenn Blakeney, angered the Opposition after using the entire two hours allotted for his Ministry's Budget debate – preventing any response.

Cole Simons, Shadow Environment Minister and UBP Whip, expressed the United Bermuda Party's displeasure after being prevented from speaking not the first time since the start of the Budget debates.

"This shows that the Brown Government is dishonest and deceitful when it comes to reviewing the 2010/2011 Budget statement," said Mr. Simons.

He added: "It is symptomatic of the ongoing commitment by this Government of not being open to public scrutiny. They do not provide the people of Bermuda with principled leadership something this country is begging for. This behaviour makes a complete mockery of Bermuda's national Budget debate."

Mr. Simons said that it was unfair to the public as well as the people who work for the Ministry of Environment.

"It undermines the integrity of the hard work done by all of the employees of the Ministry of Environment who worked very hard and judiciously to showcase what is happening within the Ministry.

"Our civil servants looked forward to defending their budgets, to show that they can adhere to best practices. There were also other Cabinet Ministers, backbenchers and MPs who wanted to make substantive contributions to the debate."

During his two hour speech Mr. Blakeney spoke on conservation efforts and various other environment related projects that his Ministry is responsible for.

According to Mr. Blakeney, the mission of the Department of Conservation Services is to conserve and restore Bermuda's natural heritage. Mr. Blakeney highlighted including work at the Bermuda Aquarium Museum and Zoo, which accounts for much of the department's budget.

The department's current account expenditure for 2010/2011 is $5,538,000 equal to last year's budget. Sixty-four percent of the budget is devoted to salaries and wages

According to Mr. Blakeney, approximately half of the current expenditure $2,514,000 or 45 percent is devoted to operating the Bermuda Aquarium Museum and Zoo or BAMZ.

According to Mr. Blakeney 2009 was a busy year for BAMZ and several projects at the facility are nearing completion.

"It is one of the Island's leading tourist attractions and it is especially popular with local schools and families," he said. "In line with the BAMZ master plan, the first phase of construction of the new animal care pavilion will be completed this month, I am happy to say.

"The pavilion will provide much needed animal quarantine space, a new zoo kitchen and a veterinary hospital tailored to the BAMZ rare animal collection.

"The Madagascar Exhibit and pavilion are also due to be finished this year. The facility will then be able to partner with local accredited organisations and acquire rare and endangered species for the exhibit in the zoo. The aquarium hall roof also requires immediate renovation, we expect that this will be finished this year also.

"The Discovery Room, aimed at small children, was given a complete facelift. There are animal costumes, story book time and a mounted projector. It is a wonderful fun and safe place to learn about Bermuda's natural history."

In line with other Government Ministries and Departments, BAMZ is taking steps to become more "green" and environmentally friendly.

"BAMZ also commissioned an 'energy master plan' from BESCO which was completed in February 2009," said Mr. Blakeney. "It is hoped that BAMZ can become an institutional example for the public on 'green' energy and energy conservation. Consequently the Animal Care pavilion will feature solar hot-water and solar light-tubes for natural lighting, further conservation methods and initiatives will be introduced throughout the year.

The Bermuda Natural History Museum which is housed at BAMZ, continues to catalogue new species and specimens. The spotted spoon-nosed eel and the lawn orchard are two specimens previously unrecorded in Bermuda and the Museum continues to expand it's specimen collection to make the identification of species in Bermuda more accurate.

"Understanding what species are present in and unique to Bermuda is important for conservation efforts."