The Tribune

By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

A HAZARDOUS materials team is still cleaning up a chemical spill at the BORCO plant in Grand Bahama three days after nearby residents of Pinder’s Point reported hearing an explosion.

Residents said they heard a “loud bang” on Tuesday night and saw men wearing protective hazmat suits, masks and breathing apparatus putting sand down in the area to contain the spill.

A representative of BORCO told The Tribune on Friday that their corporate office would be releasing an official statement concerning the incident.

According to a reliable source, a sub-contractor was transferring chemicals from one container to another at the plant when a spill occurred during a rainstorm on Tuesday night. The chemical had stained the road and grounds on the south west side of the plant where the spill had occurred.

Bertha McPhee Duncanson, chief health inspector at the Department of Environmental Health Services, was out of office and could not be reached on Friday for comment.

According to reports, nearby residents who reported hearing a bang late on Tuesday night, had contacted BORCO, but were told that no such incident had occurred at the plant.

Bertram Pinder, chairman of the Pinder’s Point/Lewis Yard Environmental Committee (PPLYEC), said he had not been contacted or informed by anyone at the company about the spill. “When I went down there on Thursday morning I saw them cleaning up inside the fence to the west, but I did not know a spill had occurred,” he said.

Mr Pinder went to BORCO after a resident had informed him about the spill. “I was not given any information as to what happened when I went down there,” he said. “A resident had contacted BORCO after hearing an explosion around midnight and was told nothing had happened. They did not inform anyone in the community about a spill.”

He said it appears that the company is trying to keep the incident “hush hush” from the residents and the relevant authorities. “We are very disappointed by this latest incident and about the results of the recent PAHO/WHO report, especially the way that it was presented to residents,” Mr Pinder said.

The PPLYEC is concerned about ongoing pollution, including the chemical emissions and oil spills, in the area by nearby industrial plants over the past 30 years. The residents believe it is the cause of many deaths and the high incidents of cancer in that area, and have been agitating for the relocation of the community.

In 1995, a tank explosion and fire at BORCO forced the evacuation of hundreds of residents from their homes for couple of days.

A resident identified as Laverne said Tuesday’s night incident was a reminder of the dangers of living so close to the plant. “We have been enduring these unsafe and unhealthy conditions for many years; we want to be moved out this area together as a community,” she said.

“We don’t want to be living here any more because it is affecting our health. We have suffered for 30 years and we don’t want our grandchildren to go through this; it has been too long, we need to be moved out of this area.”

Shuffel Hepburn, a local businessman, said that a month ago the Minister for Grand Bahama told residents of Pinder’s Point that he has evidence that there is no health risk to people living in the area. Mr Hepburn said that Tuesday’s spill shows otherwise.

“Here we have plant workers wearing chemical suits complete with respirators while cleaning up a spill that spewed dangerous and probably lethal chemicals into the Buckeye yard, onto the road, into the nearby bushes and most importantly into the air that the residents of Seaco Town breathed that night. Unfortunately, the road and bushes continue to tell the tale,” he said.