The Tribune

By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Chief Reporter

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

POLITICAL backlash over the government’s lack of public communication concerning the 2012 Rubis underground gasoline leak continued yesterday with calls for the resignation of Environment Minister Kenred Dorsett and Marathon MP Jerome Fitzgerald.

Democratic National Alliance (DNA) Deputy Leader Chris Mortimer charged that the government had failed to protect its citizens when it decided to withhold an independent report on remediation efforts and chemical exposure for more than a year. He spoke at a press conference held on the grounds of the service station at Robinson and Old Trail Roads.

Mr Mortimer accused Attorney General Allyson Maynard Gibson, who would have advised the government on whether to release Black and Veatch International report, of attempting to deflect from the delay of the report’s dissemination, adding that she had a cavalier attitude.

His disdain over the government’s handling of the matter was also echoed by FNM Senator Kwasi Rolle, the party’s shadow minister of the environment, and FNM candidate for Marathon Heather Hunt. Mr Rolle also called for the resignation of Mr Dorsett.

Mr Mortimer said: “It is easy to take this view when you are sitting behind high walls with generators, purified water, and solar energy. I want the attorney general to sit here in one of these homes right here with the elevated levels of benzene. It’s not surprising that this would be the approach because it’s not their health.”

He added: “They are sitting in ivory towers, eating the best food and throwing scraps to the Bahamian people.”

According to the BEST Commission, the fuel release was observed in late December 2012 by operator Fiorente Management, and reported to Rubis on January 19, 2013.

BEST Director Philip Weech said variance records approximated the release of 12,000 gallons of unleaded gasoline.

The BVI report was completed February 20, 2014, but it was only released after public outcry at a town meeting on Thursday, despite numerous requests from the media for the document.

The DNA pledged to reform policy if elected to government in 2017, adding that public information and financial compensation would be prioritised.

Supporters were joined by several residents, who chanted, “Fitzgerald must go, Fitzgerald must go.”

“The sad part is that this happens all over the place,” Mr Mortimer said. “The government has done nothing to save the environment, whether it’s Bimini, (or) the leaching of fuel at Clifton Pier.”

The BVI report confirmed that elevated levels of benzene, a cancer-causing compound in gasoline, was found in a residential well in May 2013.

The cancer-causing compound was also found in air samples taken by Cable Bahamas’ contractor in early 2013, according to the report.

Area residents have complained that the minister of the environment and their area MP were silent over the past two years when asked for answers over the fuel leak.

“It’s a conspiracy of silence,” said Andrew Wilson, DNA chairman. “When those elected to represent remain silent, it is clear that we cannot rely on the two major parties to protect the interests of the Bahamian people.”

Former Marathon MP and Minister of the Environment Earl Deveaux yesterday declined to offer his perspective on the government’s handling of the spill; however, he pointed to similar incidents that he said were handled transparently and expeditiously under the former FNM administration.

“Draw reference from the past,” Mr Deveaux said. “When we were doing the harbour dredging at Albany, when we shut down Bimini Bay to review the work, when The Tribune accused me of being complicit in a compromising position, it was all on the record.”

“When Albany breached the pipeline in dredging their canal, when we held town meetings, was it not the ministers who were responsible to the public that conducted those meetings? Did we sit in the back of the room?”

“Who was in the front of the mic?” Mr Deveaux added. “It wasn’t any public official from a non-statutory body.”

Mr Deveaux questioned why the director of the Department of Environmental Health Services, or Public Health did not attend the town meeting on Thursday in their roles as the custodians of public interest in public/private environmental disputes.

In a statement yesterday, Senator Rolle said the government’s response to the incident was “egregious”.