The Tribune

BY DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

FREEPORT – Grand Bahama Human Rights activist Joseph Darville says the government must insist that the “offending companies” in the industrial park be held accountable for a voluntary relocation of all residents living in the affected nearby communities of Pinder’s Point/Lewis Yard.

Darville’s comments came in response to remarks made on Monday by former FNM MP Maurice Moore regarding the recent oil spills at the park.

Mr Moore, who lives in Pinder’s Point, said the oil spills and chemical odours have been an ongoing problem for many years, and pose a serious danger to residents there.

He believes that the only real solution is a permanent relocation of the settlement.

The former Bahamian ambassador stressed that the government must ensure that companies in the industrial park make the necessary provisions to relocate the settlement.

Mr Darville said he was shocked by the comments Mr Moore, whom he claimed did “nothing” when the activist initially raised concerns and agitated on behalf thousands of students and residents.

He said: “I read with utter amazement and unbelief the interview Mr Maurice Moore gave to The Tribune and published into Tuesday, March 27, 2013 edition, with reference to the tragedies which have befallen the residents in the areas around the industrial park.

“Back in the days when I personally waged a battle against these industrial giants, which were destroying that area, sickening the residents and students, not one single politician or any elder from Pinders Point or Lewis Yard came to our assistance,” he said.

During that time, Mr Darville was the principal at the Grand Bahama Catholic High School, which also was located near the industrial park.

“On one tragic occasion, when five ambulances had to be called to transport some 30 students, seriously ailing, from Hawksbill Primary, I almost came to physical blows with the dearly departed Edward St George, who accused me of prompting the reaction of these children to physically fall out from the foul odours.

“Only the intervention of his dear wife, Lady Henrietta St George, saved the day. He later that same evening, contacted me later to apologise after he visited the Rand Memorial Hospital and personally witnessed the scene of those children on ventilators to support their breathing and recuperation.

“Finally gaining the attention of the then government, an independent investigation in the foul emissions from Syntex (no longer in operation) was carried out. That company, which prided itself on a 99 per cent pollution control mechanism, had to spend in excess of $7 million to upgrade their scrubber systems. That company never forgave me for that financial inconvenience,” Mr Darville said.

The former educator was instrumental in getting the schools in the area relocated. Land in the Settler’s Way area was provided by Edward St George at the Grand Bahama Port Authority for the new schools.

“It is in light of the above, that, I stand puzzled by the remarks of Mr Maurice Moore, when for one solid decade between 1978 and 1988, we battled those companies and begged for some relief; where was he then, and the other politicians in power during that period? Even his children attended CHS, and had to endure the foul odours, and God only knows what else. I am still saddened today to know that a good number of my students from that area have died untimely of cancer – directly related to industrial pollution.”

“I certainly agree with Mr Moore, no matter his present personal motive, that that industrial park is a potential cataclysmic event, comparable to that of the BP oil rig explosion, waiting to happen.

“Our government must now, immediately, have the moral and political will to demand that the offending companies in that park be responsible for the relocation of all residents, voluntarily, in case some opt to remain, from that inhabitable area.