Rubis officials looking into claims of fuel leak in Sandyport

As of Friday, June 12, 2015

By RICARDO WELLS

Tribune Staff Reporter

rwells@tribunemedia.net

OFFICIALS from Rubis (Bahamas) said yesterday they are looking into reports made by residents and store owners in the Sandyport area claiming the company's area service station was emitting fumes and leaking small amounts of fuel into a nearby canal.

Earlier this week reports surfaced on social media alleging a number of environmental issues stemming from the service station.

Despite many of those communications being made in private social media groups, they did get the attention of the Environmental Minister, Kenred Dorsett.

Responding to posts made in the Raising Awareness about the Bahamas Landfill (RABL) Facebook group, Mr Dorsett confirmed that the Department of Environmental Health Services had been advised on the matter and that the Environmental Remediation and Response Laboratory (EMRAD) were investigating.

In an interview with The Tribune at the Sandyport service station, a Rubis official asking to remain anonymous said that the company was looking into the matter but was still in the preliminary stages of its investigation.

That official added that, to this point, the company had not come across any fuel in or around the canal but would stay vigilant as they worked to find the source of the reports.

"We have been here for some time now working to figure out exactly what is going on, if anything is going on. At this point all we have is speculation but we are working to end this matter," he added.

Rubis has been under a lot of 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 release were appropriate to protect public health and adequately remediate the environment.

That report, completed on February 20, 2014 and only recently released, 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.

No Sandyport business owners contacted by the Tribune yesterday reported smelling fumes or seeing fuel in the area's canal.

Investigations are ongoing.

Well_mudda_take_sic 8 years, 10 months ago

Franky Wilson aka Snake and FOCOL/Shell Bahamas are looking to have Rubis declared persona non grata in the Bahamas. If this happens, we will be paying $10 a gallon for gasoline at Shell and Exxon service stations. It seems poor Rubis needs to add more "grease" to their gasoline sales in the Bahamas!

Publius 8 years, 10 months ago

Talk about swift response....well lets hope the matter is sorted out as need be.

Guess Marathon was not deemed a good enough area of people for this same immediate public attention about their ground water and air being contaminated for who knows how long.

ThisIsOurs 8 years, 10 months ago

Just plain weird, exactly what kind of agreement did Rubis sign before Texaco was allowed to get out of Dodge? And what an absolutely swift response by our Believe in Bahamians representative, would have been nice if they'd done the same for the persons who really needed help after being shafted by the festival commission,(when is the report on the numbers coming out again? ...but anyway). These nouveau riche, never see come see politicians who are so enthralled with riches and high society need to go. It's disgraceful that the PM represents such a depressed community.

Chucky 8 years, 10 months ago

"That official added that, to this point, the company had not come across any fuel in or around the canal but would stay vigilant as they worked to find the source of the reports.""

"worked to find the source of the reports"

Yes it's very important to find out who report this, better hurry and silence them!

EnoughIsEnough 8 years, 10 months ago

as a frequent visitor to the sandyport marina area i can confirm that over the past 2 weeks the smell of gas/oil has been horrendous at various times during the day around spritz, the hair salon, the marina itself. there have been numerous postings of photos of oil/gas floating on the water and some residents and business owners have noticed this issue since at least mid-may. one business took it upon themselves to send employees home yesterday as the smell of benzene was causing nausea in some of the employees. the issue was reported several weeks ago to the Minister of the Environment but it seems that everything was being kept quiet until it was raised on Facebook. Rubis had received multiple calls from concerned residents and shop keepers so for the writer of this article to say no shopkeepers had noticed anything isn't quite true. It's like many other environmental issues - areas affected depending on tide, wind direction, location etc.... At least the response has been quicker, there is more public awareness and hopefully there will be resolution. It's better to err on the side of caution and investigate and make the public aware than it is to bury the issue and to try to keep it quiet. The only major concern i have is that in other countries the govts bring in independent testers to determine if there is a breach - in the Bahamas we have the company that could possibly be in breach do the investigating - there is something quite wrong with that picture.