The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

AN environmental activist yesterday accused the government of being “duplicitous” for extending oil exploration licences at the same time it is promoting renewable energy use.

Sam Duncombe, reEarth’s president, told Tribune Business she was “more than irritated” after the Minnis administration extended Bahamas Petroleum Company’s (BPC) four oil exploration licences until year-end 2020.

She urged the government to “get serious” about the environment and renewable energy, and said: “It was a bit of a shock to see that in the papers to be quite honest. We had been told that there would be absolutely no oil drilling.

“The government cannot continue to play with the public. The government cannot continue to ignore the concerns of the people. There’s Oban, and then they’re continuously talking about oil drilling. The government seems hell bent on ignoring science.

“We need to be focusing on green energy and stop entertaining this conversation about fossil fuels. It’s so duplicitous. The government has to get serious about the environment. Right now I’m more than irritated.”

The extension confirmation effectively gives BPC a clear two-year window in which to complete everything required for the drilling of a first exploratory well in waters south-west of Andros, near the maritime border with Cuba.

It provides BPC and any joint venture partner - especially in a business reliant on government regulation and approvals - with the certainty and clarity they crave to proceed with their plans, knowing that the “rules of the game” have now been set.

BPC and the government must also work together to develop a two-year “road map”, or work schedule, setting out how all technical and environmental issues likely to be encountered on the way to that first exploratory well will be dealt with. This includes BPC obtaining all required “environmental authorisations”.

Both parties must also work together to “reconcile” the licence fees paid by BPC to-date, including during the “period of disruption”, with those sums that will be owing to the government during the upcoming period to end-2020.

The “period of disruption” refers to the time when BPC’s progress was essentially halted as it waited for the former Christie administration to pass legislation to strengthen the regulatory and environmental protection regimes for oil exploration - an objective that was eventually accomplished.