By AVA TURNQUEST
Tribune Chief Reporter
aturnquest@tribunemedia.net
RUBIS Bahamas yesterday confirmed remediation work is underway at Porky’s service station after a product that appeared to be fuel was found in a trench dug by the Water and Sewerage Corporation.
The product – found in a trench between the East Street South station’s forecourt and the road – is believed to be residual fuel due to its colour and quantity, according to Jermaine Colebrooke, the company’s operations manager for the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos.
Mr Colebrooke said that a review of the service station’s computerised system and its fuel stock records did not indicate any leaks or fuel losses.
“It is a well-established fact worldwide in the oil industry that old service stations that have been in operation for many years tend to have residual fuel under the forecourts,” he said.
“However, it is Rubis’ policy that if hydrocarbons are discovered under our service stations, regardless if they were there before our acquisition, we will clean it up. We see it as our duty as a responsible corporate citizen.”
The company has hired Environmental Response Concepts to conduct the clean up, Mr Colebrooke said.
In a statement released yesterday, he explained that Water and Sewerage Corporation (WSC) workers discovered a small quantity of black liquid at the bottom of the trench and immediately reported this to Rubis.
Mr Colebrooke said that although officials conducted a site visit within an hour, the trench had already been filled by WSC. However, it was noted that WSC workers took photos of the product.
“We then contacted Baychem Spill Technologies, a local environmental company,” Mr Colebrooke said, “who arrived approximately 45 minutes later to inspect the station. We then contacted the regulator to report the incident and advise what action we were taking.”
The statement did not provide any indication of the date of the discovery, and officials did not respond to questions up to press time.
It follows concerns raised by environmental action group Save The Bays (STB).
In a press statement, STB Director Romauld Ferreira called for a full investigation into what appeared to be remediation of a fuel leak.
He pointed out that equipment at the East Street South service station was similar to that used for remediation at the Marathon service station, where thousands of gallons of fuel leaked underground in 2012. Fears have also recently emerged about a leak at the company’s Sandyport service station. Sandyport Development Company (SDC) President Garth Buckner last week alleged that a crack in the bulkhead of a Rubis (Bahamas) fuel line positioned at the rear-eastern side of the Sandyport marina was the source of a feared fuel leak first reported earlier this month. However, Rubis has not admitted or acknowledged that a fuel line was the source of the feared fuel leak.
Gordon Craig, Rubis (Bahamas) managing director, last week said his company is seeking a “much needed” meeting with environmental officials and SDC representatives.
“Fuel companies and the Ministry of Environment have a duty to make residents and businesses aware of what they know, as soon as they know it,” Mr Ferreira said yesterday.
“This is what happens in other jurisdictions around the world. Why are Bahamian lives considered less important? When will our government officials take environmental pollution seriously and move to protect us from its serious consequences?”
Mr Ferreira said: “We call for increased attention to be placed to the physical state and integrity of all facilities and infrastructure that stores or transports fuels and other volatile hydrocarbon substances throughout the country.
“The time for playing hide-and-seek is over, government officials and fuel companies must come clean about any possible dangers to the public health and the integrity of our environment.
“They cannot be allowed to play with people’s lives,” he added.
Comments
GrassRoot 8 years, 10 months ago
all this combined really describes well what a "mess" is. This is a mess, all this and whatever will be discovered going forward.
EnoughIsEnough 8 years, 10 months ago
it's important to keep in mind that many of these leaks were in place for a long time before Rubis came in to the Bahamas. Which means the govt - again - was negligent in putting safety measures in place. All stations should be checked regularly. The issue at Sandyport is a leak that was there some time ago apparently and was resolved (apparently) but proper remediation was never done it seems. The fuel was left to sit and now that work has been going on at that site, it has disturbed the ground (which is essentially landfill as it was a marsh before -and should never have underground fuel tanks by my humble opinion) and now the fuel that accumulated is leaking. I see this as a developer (Buckner) issue, not Rubis. If you look under the dock near the fuel pumps you can see clearly where the cement bags used as fill/support are bulging out severely.
Well_mudda_take_sic 8 years, 10 months ago
With Christie's apparent knowledge and tacit consent, Allyson Maynard-Gibson (aka the Wicked Witch of the West) seems to be hell bent on wrongfully providing protection for Rubis, likely in exchange for generous election campaign contribution commitments.
Voltaire 8 years, 10 months ago
@EnoughIsEnough - no one is saying Rubis caused the leaks. The question is, how come they keep finding them and trying to fix the problem on the down low, without warning the people and companies located nearby? Why we have to be run out of our offices by toxic fumes before someone says something? In the Sandyport case, I read that they knew for two weeks and didn't say anything to the public. In Marathon, it was two years. This is not good enough.
ted4bz 8 years, 10 months ago
Energy giants talk to power figures only, those who will protect them gets a deal and they put nothing in writing.
Early this week (Monday) I sent out an email alerting RUBiS that we were smelling very strong gas fumes on the eastern side of RUBiS in the Highbury Park side of Old Trail Road and that this was the case for the past 2 to 3 weeks (even though this is not every day this usually happens after it rains. This has been the case for the past year and months, even after the remediation, sometimes days at a time). In the email I copied a few of the media including minister Fitzgerald and Dorsett. RUBiS responded to the media but RUBiS replied to the media alone, they omitted me from the email response informing the media that the situation is not so. The media called after they received the email response from RUBiS. I told them I did not receive a response from RUBiS so they all forwarded RUBiS respond to my email address. RUBiS response addressed the alert with my name at the top, again the only thing is they did not included my email.
The email said they sent someone to check and the person walked the stretch for an hour and did not detect any vapors or smell and that their systems did not record any leaks. So I was out of my flipping mind trying to toss red flags for attention, I guess. The same way they did not detect and smell the strong fumes we were smelling is perhaps they didn't come, we didn't see them, they didn't do what they said and most certainly no one came and asked us where were we smelling the fumes, no one. Other than the media no one else called not even environmental health.
We are on our own. I sure do hope the people of Sandy Port have a case and that they spill this into the global community. Energy giants are not afraid of property owners, governments and the laws of of countries (if any), nor feeble law suits and petitions launched by small communities, its got to be on a global scale. If the people of Sandy Port will do so only then will RUBiS and the government act on behalf of residents to protect their reputation. When the global community, green activist and billion dollar green corporations protecting the environment and the health of human-beans only do energy giants respond in kind. Almost all settlement by energy giants are settled this way as a result of wide spread pressure and embarrassment. We are much to small and weak to make an effective impact on how they are handling us as human-beans.
By Ted Forbes
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