The Tribune

OFFICIALS from the Ministry of the Environment and Housing exectued an inspection of the premises and operations of the BORCO storage facility in Freeport, Grand Bahama, yesterday.

The inspection team included technical officers from the ministry, the BEST Commission, the Department of Environmental Health Services, the Ministry of Transport and Aviation, the Port Department, the Royal Bahamas Police Force, the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Health.

“This inspection comes in the aftermath of several oil spill incidents in the Pinder’s Point area involving the BORCO facility,” said Environment Minister Ken Dorsett in a statement. “BORCO has been notified and is co-operating with government officials.”

In addition to the inspection process, the technical team engaged in a walkabout of the Pinder’s Point community to speak with residents about their concerns and to gather any information relevant to the team’s investigations, Mr Dorsett said.

This comes after former FNM MP and area resident Maurice Moore complained that oil spills and odour from industrial companies on Grand Bahama have become a “very serious” threat to residents of Pinder’s Point.

“The government needs to demand of the people doing the refinery, and to a lesser extent the Power Company and Pharmachem, that they make necessary provisions to move the people from this area,” he said.

Following a reported spill last month, BORCO officials said divers were inspecting marine growth and debris surrounding their terminal’s cooling water effluent line when a volume of less than two gallons of oil was dislodged. Emergency crews recovered the oil.

In February, another oil spill occurred that resulted in the release of approximately 20 gallons of oil.

There have been other incidents over the years, some involving spills by vessels in the area.

Mr Moore, who lives in Pinder’s Point, said in addition to chemical emissions, oil spills have been an ongoing problem for many years in that community.

“We experience odours, and all along the coastline now you got oil spills; almost every couple of days stuff is showing up along the coastline...”

“This whole situation has become a very serious matter,” the former MP said.