The Tribune

BEC officials believe they may have uncovered an ‘oil theft ring’ that has operated on the island of Eleuthera for years.

It comes after an accidental spill on the island exposed that ‘unscrupulous persons’ were apparently siphoning fuel from the corporation’s holding tanks in Rock Sound.

According to the corporation’s chairman Leslie Miller, it is estimated that some $190,000 worth of fuel spilled into an acre of land after a supply line from BEC’s new holding tank was diverted to one of its decommissioned tanks at the rear of the airport in Rock Sound.

From these old tanks, the chairman said, persons were filling up their own tanks and possibly reselling the corporation’s fuel.

“This is totally deliberate and it has been ongoing for sometime it appears.

“The total amount of fuel in the old tanks was some 30,000 gallons. Someone was running their own fuel station off BEC,” Mr Miller said.

Visiting the area with a team of investigators and personnel from the corporation’s Safety and Environment Department, Mr Miller said the corporation estimated it may have lost some $190,000 in fuel in the spill, with another $150,000 needed to clean up the damage.

“This is systematic theft. There are supply lines running from the old decommissioned tank to the new 200,000 gallon one, and it’s like someone left the faucet on.

“The old tanks were supposed to be abandoned some three years ago. Today one of these same ‘decommissioned’ tanks now holds some 30,000 gallons. Someone was just stealing the fuel,” he said.

Bharti Burke-Jones, Safety and Environment manager at BEC, said they were lucky that there were heavy rains overnight in Eleuthera which meant the heavier diesel oil floated to the top of the water and made it easier for their cleanup teams to recover the majority of the spill.

“We are talking about 30,000 gallons that may have made it to the ground and we are still recovering. The rain helped us to bring everything to the surface. We have skimmers there and pumps working,” Ms Burke-Jones said.

The affected soil will have to be removed and treated, she added, but for now there is no immediate concern or reports that the water-table has been effected.

She said that the team was satisfied that there had also been no contamination to the surrounding wetlands or coastal area.

Bay-Chem Spill Technologies has been contracted to handle the cleanup of the area.

On Thursday, BEC officials said that they had known about the leak since Tuesday, saying that some 20,000 gallons of fuel had been recovered up until that point.

Initial estimates put the spill at some 70,000 gallons of fuel.