The Tribune

IN today’s Tribune, we report further on the potential contamination of groundwater in Nicholls Town, North Andros – with the remarkable update that the Department of Environmental Planning and Protection is packing its bags to go and assess the site nearly 20 months after the oil leak there.

In yesterday’s Tribune, we reported the concerns of residents in the area following the leak, which reportedly took place all the way back in January 2022.

The leak took place at a Bahamas Power and Light pipeline, but shockingly BPL did not report the leak to the public.

Worse, when contacted by The Tribune, BPL officials would not even discuss the state of remediation efforts in the area. Their reason? Ongoing litigation, after a lawsuit was launched over that leak, and another said to have taken place in June 2019.

There should be no legal limitation on reporting the state of any clean-up operation – if there has been a concerted effort to carry out any clean-up. It should be in the company’s interests to show the extent of efforts to mop up any spillage and show the lack of damage or impact on nearby communities.

More to the point, this is about people’s health – those living nearby deserve an answer as to whether a clean-up operation has made the water safe to drink or bathe in.

It brings back memories of another gas spill, in 2012, at the Rubis site in Marathon. That generated great controversy – not least of all over the lack of transparency in being forthcoming with residents over the issue. It led to significant criticism of then Marathon MP Jerome Fitzgerald.

This time, BPL is the company involved – but the silence over the alleged spillage remains the same.

For BPL to acknowledge that there is litigation means of course that they knew about it. The company is therefore choosing to stay silent, no matter what that means about leaving local residents unwarned, and unaware of how long it will be before the situation is remedied.

Environment Minister Vaughn Miller is, it seems, silent again on an environment issue.

And that brings us to the DEPP, for which it is unclear when they were notified about the leak, and whose arrival on the scene in North Andros within the next week is many months too late.

Randy Butler, the president of a company suing BPL over the leak, says that officials were notified of both incidents, the one in 2019 and the other in 2022.

He said: “What would be the purpose of going now? I mean, it’s never too late, but what would you do if you found out that this stuff is already in the water table and moving away to create issues? What do you do?”

He added: “I don’t know if they’ve been now ordered to come or they were not ordered to come before, or Androsians are not that important to them.”

If all is as has been said, there has been ample opportunity to notify the Bahamian public about this spillage – and it has not been done.

There has been plenty of time to carry out full remediation – yet The Tribune was told that remediation was stopped.

There have been many months in which experts such as those at DEPP could have visited to assess the extent of the spillage and the potential damage. Until now, they have not.

Does this seem like all concerned are showing urgency about protecting the health of Bahamians, the environment they live in and ensuring the best for our nation?

Even if BPL wants to cling to the claim of legal action being the reason for not commenting publicly, the spillage reportedly took place in January 2022 and the legal action only began in May this year. There was a long time during which the company could have released details of this spillage.

The government has spoken of cracking down on those who pollute the environment – will it hold BPL to the same standard?