The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Cable Bahamas has urged the Government to launch a criminal investigation into the gas leak that has caused up to $15 million in alleged damages to its business, demanding that it “hold Rubis accountable”.

The BISX-listed firm’s attorneys, Callenders & Co, in a July 3, 2014, letter to Prime Minister Perry Christie and several other Cabinet ministers, called on the Government to follow through on its verbal assurances by taking concrete action over the 20,000-30,000 gallon spill.

The letter, which has been seen by Tribune Business, alleges that Rubis’s proposed remediation plan is “ineffective” and “alarmingly suggests an acceptable contamination level” that Cable Bahamas’ own environmental consultants regard as too high.

The BiSX-listed communications provider adds that persons living nearby, whose homes were also contaminated by the leak from the Rubis gas station at the Robinson Road and Old Trail Road intersection, may not be aware of the risks to their health from having monitoring wells in their homes.

And, looking at the wider implications, Cable Bahamas is urging the Government to investigate other New Providence gas stations for similar pollution and contamination.

It revealed that representatives from the Bahamas Environment, Science and Technology (BEST) Commission and its advisers, Black & Veatch, at a November 2013 meeting “refused to enter our customer service building due to the prevalence of fumes in the building, indicating serious concerns on behalf of the Government as to the safety of the building almost a year after the initial spill”.

Tribune Business earlier this week revealed how Cable Bahamas has filed a civil action in the Supreme Court, seeking up to $15 million in damages and compensation for the 18-month, pollution-enforced closureof its customer service building.

It also wants the Supreme Court to grant an injunction forcing the newly-reopened Rubis gas station to close on the grounds that “is not fit for purpose or unsafe”.

In its letter to Mr Christie and four other Cabinet ministers, Callenders & Co said Cable Bahamas objected to any permits that had been granted to allow the Robinson Road gas station to re-open.

Explaining why their client was adopting this position, the attorneys added: “Cable considers that the negligence of Rubis, Fiorente and the responsible officers, directors and employees, is not only civil in nature but extends to and warrants investigaton by the relevant authorities for the purpose of initiating criminal charges for the harm caused to humans, properties and the environment.”

Fiorente Management & Investments is the gas station’s franchise operator, leasing the real estate and equipment from Rubis. The French energy group took over the Robinson Road station and other assets as part of its 2012 acquisition of Chevron’s Texaco (Bahamas) business.

Cable Bahamas first began experiencing problems with gasoline vapours in late 2012, with the first evacuation of its customer service building taking place in October that year. Yet Rubis only announced that a gasoline leak had occurred on January 28, 2013, with the necessary repairs completed a week earlier.

Callenders & Co, on Cable Bahamas’ behalf, implied that had Rubis and its franchisee informed them of the gas leak earlier, then “the hospitalisation” of some 44 persons might not have happened.

“The customer service building was evacuated for the final time on January 26, 2013, and remains closed and, according to the advice from Cable’s consultants, unfit for habitation,” Callenders alleged.

“Until its closure, the customer service building was the place of work for 178 of Cable’s staff, and received 500,000 customer visits annually.”

The letter added: “Cable has suffered, and continues to suffer, huge financial loss as a result of the gasoline spill. The customer service building has been shut for nearly 18 months, and Cable has not received any reliable indication as to when, if at all, the building will be decontaminated.

“The services previously operated at the site have been split across three locations, causing massive disruption to Cable’s business. The financial cost that has been incurred by Cable to-date is currently estimated to be in the millions, and will continue to increase as this situation remains unresolved......

“It is abundantly clear that someone must be held accountable for the harm that Cable and its staff have suffered and continue to suffer.”

Concerns were then expressed about Rubis’s remediation plan. Cable Bahamas’ own environmental consultants, UK-based Ecologica, had warned that the clean-up proposal was “a generic plan which fails to give proper consideration to the use of the affected properties; only presents best case scenarios; fails to explain relevant risk factors; and alarmingly suggests an acceptable contamination level which is regarded by Ecologica as too high”.

Again alleging that Rubis had failed to meet its obligations under and Access and Environmental Activities agreement, where it had promised to share information on the investigation into the gasoline spill, Cable Bahamas urged that it be brought into the remediation plan being developed by the Government and the energy firm.

Noting that both commercial and residential properties had been affected by the spill, Callenders & Co said persons living nearby had not been offered alternative accommodations despite the hazardous fumes and water table contamination.

Rubis, though, has installed extraction equipment and monitoring wells in their homes - and in some cases, the wells are in bedrooms and living rooms. “Residents, their families, employees and customers have been exposed to harmful levels of hydrocarbon vapours for over 18 months, “ Callenders & Co said.

“It is too soon to determine the long-term health implications of prolonged exposure to such levels of hydrocarbon vapours, but there is real cause for concern. In addition, the residents are facing devaluation of their properties and loss of business.”

And, looking further afield, the letter added: “It has now been brought to Cable’s attention that the issue faced at the Rubis station is not a unique or isolated incident in New Providence.

“Apparently there may be other gasoline stations operated by others where similar contamination has occurred or is occurring... Although Cable is not (to its knowledge at present) directly affected by these other incidents of suspected contamination, Cable, in accordance with corporate responsibility, draws your attention to the need for investigation.”

Callenders & Co, on Cable Bahamas’ behalf, complained that the latter had seen “little by way of action” on the Government’s part to tackle and resolve the gasoline spill, despite it acknowledging the seriousness of the situation.

It added that the Government was aware of the incident “a minimum of a week” prior to Cable Bahamas evacuating its customer service building in late January 2013.

The letter was also sent to Philip Davis, Deputy Prime Minister and minister of works; Attorney General Allyson Maynard-Gibson; Kenred Dorsett, minister of the environment; Dr Perry Gomez, minister of health; the BEST Commission; Buildings Control; and the Health and Safety at Work Commission.