The Tribune

By SANCHESKA DORSETT

Tribune Staff Reporter

sdorsett@tribunemedia.net

RUBIS Bahamas executives said yesterday that the fumes emanating from their service station on East Bay Street are coming from “rotting vegetation” and not a gas or diesel leak.

Speaking with The Tribune after several businesses in the area complained about a “strong smell” making their employees “nauseous,” Managing Director of Rubis Bahamas and Turks and Caicos Gordon D Craig said the “bad smell” is not harmful.

In fact, Mr Gordon said since work began on renovating the service station, the Department of Environmental Health Services (DEHS) has done inspections everyday to ensure that the site is up to standard.

“It is not diesel fumes. The ground in the area is always wet and it is rotting vegetation that is causing the odour. There is no leak at the service station,” Mr Gordon said.

“What we are doing is taking out the old tanks and replacing them with new ones that are up to international standards. Everyday since the start of the project DEHS and the Ministry of Works have been out here inspecting the soil and they had no concern. We have started the excavating, three have been replaced and we have to replace two more. I know there is a smell but it is the rotting dirt, it smells like a swamp, that is what people are smelling not gas or diesel. It has subsided and the smell should go away soon.”

When The Tribune visited the area near Harbour Bay Plaza yesterday the smell was still very strong. One business owner, who did not want to be identified, said he sent his employees home early on Wednesday and they were closing half day on Friday because the scent was unbearable.

Another business owner said several employees opted to work from home, until the odour subsides.

Rubis has been under scrutiny ever since details surfaced that the company’s Robinson Road Station had a fuel leak in late December 2012.

Black and Veatch was contracted by the government in 2013 to ensure that the actions taken by Rubis Bahamas to address the spill were appropriate to protect public health and adequately remediate the environment.

That report, completed on February 20, 2014, confirmed there were elevated levels of benzene in the area and concluded that assessments conducted by Rubis were insufficient and could not be used to determine whether persons in the area were exposed to contamination associated with the fuel release.

Last year, Rubis (Bahamas) officials were also investigating reports by residents and storeowners in the Sandyport area alleging that the company’s service station was emitting fumes and leaking small amounts of fuel into a nearby canal.