The Tribune

By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

ENVIRONMENTALIST Sam Duncombe yesterday raised concerns about “serious health implications” and possible contamination of the water table following the leakage of fuel from a Bahamas Electricity Corporation line that runs from Clifton to the Blue Hills Power Plant.

The incident caused what he BEC Chairman originally said was more than $175,000 worth of fuel to spill underground. However, he revised the total from 50,000 gallons as he stated on Wednesday night, telling The Tribune yesterday during a brief interview that around 5,000 gallons of fuel was leaked - which would be a total of $17,500 in value.

Mr Miller said he had to cut the interview short because he was in a meeting and could not be reached later yesterday for more details.

It happened when a man, illegally cutting fill at a site off Carmichael Road, accidentally ruptured one of BEC’s main fuel lines with a backhoe.

“These are toxic chemicals that are leaching into our ground water,” Ms Duncombe told The Tribune when contacted for comment. “The amount that you would need to contaminate people’s bathing and drinking water is next to nothing.

“Obviously the (fuel) is gone now. It is in the ground and to get it all out is impossible. What has happened is the limestone layer has been permeated and the oil is probably headed into the water table. So there are serious health implications here. 

“If someone gets cancer in this country, the burden of proof is always on the person who is sick. It is next to impossible to determine or trace how they got cancer. We are running amuck and when you make the environment unhealthy people are unhealthy.”

Ms Duncombe said the government should mark areas where there are pipelines more clearly and increase the frequency of its site monitoring. 

BEC work crews were yesterday cleaning up the leakage to properly dispose of the fuel. Officials said they were also investigating who may have changed the locks on the manhole of BEC’s tanks. The locks were replaced with locks that are not the property of BEC, an official said.

An audit was also being conducted to determine BEC’s losses.

When BEC officials arrived at the scene to assess the fuel leakage on Wednesday night they also discovered that someone had removed the top of the manhole that leads to the line and stole at least $300,000 worth of BEC’s fuel.

“Someone,” Mr Miller said, “has been siphoning fuel from this line. They removed the manhole, which weighs about 500lbs, and even put their own lock on the line. We aren’t sure how long they have been doing this, but we know it’s not more than six months because we check the gauges every six months.”

At the time Mr Miller said BEC technicians would work “straight through the night” until the line was repaired, costing the corporation thousands of dollars in overtime.