The Tribune

By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

BAHAMIANS were yesterday urged to take “citizen action” to preserve the country’s precious underwater resources.

Noted environmentalist Robert Kennedy Jr told College of the Bahamas students and faculty that he is very concerned about the progressive break down of one of the country’s most famous underwater reefs.

According to Mr Kennedy, several reefs in the Clifton Pier area have been nearly destroyed by repeated oil spills from BEC’s Clifton Pier Diesel Power Plant.

Speaking of his experiences and observations of climate change and possible effects on small island developing states, Mr Kennedy called on citizens to push the government to clean up the reef.

“I challenge any of you,” Mr Kennedy said, “to go out there and take a boat and see what is coming out of that plant. It is criminal and it is destroying the biggest underwater resources that you’ve got on this island. You can’t have that stuff in the water and have a living reef underneath it. No tourist wants to go swimming in that oil slick.

“If I lived on this island and cared about the environment I would go out there today and look at that oil slick and then call up the government agency or go wait in their office until they come out and say we need that thing taken care of.”

As a result of the tremendous amount of oil spilled, Mr Kennedy said, preventative measures put in place some years ago have been overwhelmed.

“They are not going to be able to clean up that thing over night, but they could put a boom out there. If you go out there, there is a boom that has probably been out there for about 15 years. It is super saturated with oil and then you have these absorbent pads and it looks like those have been there for 10 years. It’s disgusting and revolting and someone should do something about it.” 

Mr Kennedy, nephew of the late US President John F Kennedy, is the senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defence Council and chief prosecuting attorney for the Hudson Riverkeeper.

He was also named one of Time Magazine’s “Heroes for the Planet” for leading the fight to preserve and restore the Hudson River.