The Tribune

By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Chief Reporter

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

Last week, the cries of Marathon residents hit mainstream politics with the release of an independent report prepared by Black and Veatch International into the 2012 underground fuel leak at Rubis Bahamas’ service station at Robinson and Old Trail Road.

For more than two years, residents in the surrounding area pieced together bits and pieces about why the station closed down in February 2013 and the property shielded from the public; or why they smelt harsh fumes from their wells and piping; and the results of tests conducted months later in their homes.

The station was allowed to re-open in July last year with residents just as much in the dark as they had been when it closed down.

So it is without question that parliamentarians in the Upper and Lower House roared over the report’s findings, truncated to fit the successful political narrative of a government preserved in amber.

As calls for mass resignations gather momentum, Attorney General Allyson Maynard-Gibson appealed for an end to finger pointing and - perhaps even more perplexing - insisted that Marathon residents “continue to see, touch, and feel” the efforts of a caring government.

Perhaps her words would not have felt so hollow had resident’s frustrations with the government not been so publicly and consistently documented. For months, residents recounted that their numerous calls, letters and emails to the related ministries and their own MP had gone unanswered.

One resident stated that MP for the area, Jerome Fitzgerald, never spoke to her in person but after numerous calls instructed his secretary to give her the contact information of a lawyer. At the town meeting earlier this month, one resident shouted that he had not seen Mr Fitzgerald since his 2012 general election campaign.

The Minister of Environment, Kenred Dorsett, and Mr Fitzgerald have both distanced themselves from having any authority on the report’s release, and the subsequent the public health firestorm. However, the Department of Environmental Health Services (DEHS) has remained quiet in the face of revelations that they did not formally approve Rubis’ remediation plans as required by law.

Meanwhile, the Department of Public Health is similarly mute on just how

effective or conclusive health testing will be for residents more than a year on from when they were initially exposed.

Gasoline is a complex mixture of hydrocarbons that are generally volatile, toxic and soluble in water. A group of compounds called BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene, and xylenes) can make up to 18 per cent of a standard blend.

While all the compounds are toxic, benzene is a “well-established cause of cancer in humans”, according to the World Health Organisation.

Despite the product levels measured in monitoring wells in March 2013, according to the Black and Veatch report, the private wells of nearby residences were not assessed for product or chemical contamination until May that year.

The absence of public consultation on this issue suggests criminal negligence, according to Fred Smith, president of the Grand Bahama Human Rights Association and attorney for both Cable Bahamas and several area residents.

“I find it shocking and unacceptable that the Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Health, BEST Commission and Department of Environmental Health Services and the Attorney General should all be passing the buck,” he said.

“Parliament has clearly provided in the legislation positive statutory obligations for the Minister of Environment and the director to take action when there has been any contamination, and in addition the act provides for prosecution.

“What I’d like to know is why nothing was done by the Minister or regulators as required?”

Mr Smith argued that while his clients had taken up civil suits against Rubis, the government has the statutory obligation to protect public interest.

“It is the abject failure of regulators to regulate,” he said. “Instead they pay homage and worship Cabinet gods as if they cannot do anything that they are already empowered to do by law. In addition Parliament has passed the Health and Safety at Work Act so the potential harmful effects that regulators need to be constantly monitoring is for the safety of consumers, employees, local residents, and other local businesses, as well as the environment.

“People are potentially dying and nobody wants to accept responsibility.”

According to the Bahamas Environment, Science and Technology (BEST)Commission, the fuel release was observed in late December 2012 by operator Fiorente Management, and reported to Rubis on January 19, 2013. It was determined that the fuel was released from a pipe between the fuel tank and its dispenser, a pipeline that was repaired on January 21, 2013. Gas was found in an exploratory trench on January 24 and the service station was closed on February 8, 2013.

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

Since the leak, Rubis has been involved in a multi-agency remediation effort that was given the unofficial approval of the DEHS and approval with exception of Black and Veatch.

At the town meeting held at Holy Cross Anglican Church, DEHS assistant director Dwayne Curtis said: “If we were to decide to shut down every institution, every organisation that has a spill until it’s pristine, a lot of places would shut down.”

Mr Curtis wasn’t exaggerating.

Likely culprits of groundwater pollution in the Bahamas include road accidents, leaking storage tanks, leaking pipelines, collapsed facilities and discarded waste or dumping.

However, the most common type of serious spill occurs at gas stations, according to Richard Cant, a consultant for the Water and Sewerage Corporation at the First National Environmental Conclave. The event was held at Superclubs Breezes, and was sponsored by the Ministry of the Environment and Housing and The Nature Conservancy.

Spills said to have been investigated with some levels of recovery or rectification were at stations at Carmichael Road, Shirley Street, Blue Hills Road, Bay Street and Robinson Road.

Also highlighted were historic cases at the Bahamas Electricity Corporation’s Blue Hills power plant and Clifton Pier.

Contamination was first noticed at Blue Hills in 1982, when the corporation was drilling a deep disposal well. It was revealed that buried fuel lines had contributed to years of leaks of Bunker C diesel fuel that is piped to the plant from Clifton Pier. Two million gallons are suspected to be involved in the leak and more than one million gallons have been recovered.

The spill impacted Blue Hills well field and also private wells in Blue Hills Estates, according to Mr Cant, who said the leaked fuel ignited on at least two occasions and threatened the power plant.

He added that a complete subsurface study at Clifton Pier has never been carried out.

At the heart of political outcry over the Rubis leak is the revelation that officials withheld the release of the Black and Veatch report for more than a year, disadvantaging residents from taking any steps to protect their health and interests.

The Free National Movement, the Democratic National Alliance and Fort Charlotte MP Andre Rollins have all condemned the stalled disclosure.

But what should we make of all this political furore, and does it actually benefit affected residents to be used as mascots for party politics?

Given that residents have been unable to organise themselves to make a considered protest, last week’s events that saw key political figures reciting their grievances word-for-word on the national stage certainly begs the question.

According to a 1984 report produced for the Water and Sewerage Corporation (WSC), groundwater pollution in New Providence was widespread and mushrooming in conjunction with development due to improper waste disposal and general lack of concern.

“Whilst most people are aware of how easily a river or pond can be polluted,” the report read, “there appears to be a lack of concern or understanding of how easily and seriously groundwater can be polluted - particularly in the porous limestone environment typified by the Bahamas.

“No public funding is available to deal with groundwater pollution,” the report read. “Instead the concerned party, if there is one, must exhort those persons responsible to take remedial action.”

It added: “Legislation to protect water resources does exist within the provisions of the Health Services Act and the Water and Sewerage Corporation Act but these have never been enforced or tested in court.”

The report suggested that monitoring agencies have not enforced their powers because they were ill-equipped. It called for stricter controls on waste disposal, and funding for timely investigation to determine who is responsible and ensure quick implementation of remedial measures.

Other cases at that time include waste disposal at Windsor Airport and fuel spills at Nassau International Airport; disposal well break at Blue Hills desalination plant; saltwater intrusion as a result of construction of the Sea Breeze Canal; malfunction of Malcolm Park’s sewage disposal well and deep wells on Paradise Island; disposal of piggery wastes at the Central Agricultural Station; fuel leaks on Cable Beach and at Clifton Pier; the disposal of waste lubrication oil at the Soldier Road Power Station. The extent of many of the cases listed were said to be unknown at the time.

The report read: “At present the WSC is concerned about water quality in the well fields infringed by housing, and consequently one aspect of the United Nations water supply project in New Providence is protecting the well fields from pollution. In certain cases this may be an impossible task.”

The report was prepared by Mr Cant, at the time a senior hydrologist at the Ministry of Works.

He told The Tribune that most of the physical upgrades requested to mitigate groundwater pollution had been met; however the monitoring and regulatory environment still left much to be desired.

“The problem is that it’s generally an ad-hoc approach,” said Mr Cant, a consultant for WSC.

“When there is a problem, we try to get someone to put in monitor wells and measure what’s there but anywhere there is massive storage of fuels they should have had monitor wells there first.”

In Rubis’ 2013 Contamination Assessment Report, it was reported that residents infrequently use private wells and only as a backup to the city water supply. However, the Black and Veatch report contested that discussions with both residents and the BEST Commission indicated that the use of these wells for potable water was in fact routine.

“We can’t stop people from putting private wells down,” Mr Cant said, “they [government] tried to bring in a tax a long time ago and there was an uproar about that. Some places, many of the Family Islands, don’t have piped water. So we don’t stop that but we try to make sure that people understand that if they are putting in wells that the water is not regarded as potable.”

As it stands, there are no specific environmental laws associated with contamination liability and cleanup, and that officials were guided by the DEHS’ Environmental Monitoring Risk Assessment Division draft policy document that addresses appropriate response actions to be taken in the event of a fuel release.

In an interview with The Tribune last week, Mrs Maynard-Gibson explained that while it was “obvious” that experts in the various branches of government were working hard on the issue, officials may have operated “in silos” rather than co-ordinating remediation efforts.

“We don’t want to be a regulatory body,” Mr Cant said. “That should be URCA or DEHS – we’ve got consultants polishing up draft legislation. Ever since they created the WSC act it kinda put us responsible for regulating that sector, but a company shouldn’t be the one making decisions like that, a company is just meant to provide a service.”

The Black and Veatch report was completed on February 20, 2014 and makes a host of recommendations. While both Rubis and the government have confirmed that all suggestions were undertaken, when will the public receive the results of the additional monitoring requested by Black and Veatch?

Questions that also remain unanswered include why didn’t DEHS formally approve the station’s remediation plans, and will the results of studies completed at Clifton ever be released to the public?

As confidence in the present government’s ability to truly put the interests of the public first is continually challenged, it’s important to recognise that there are few white knights on the political landscape.

If political agents truly want a foothold on this issue, they must shift their focus to securing legal representation and health testing for residents. Unlike coastal erosion, the extent of groundwater contamination in New Providence demands more than political aesthetics and leaves little room for carpetbaggers.

• What is your view? Email comments and responses to aturnquest@tribunemedia.net