By NEIL HARTNELL
Tribune Business Editor
nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
The Government’s promise to spend $20 million on cleaning-up the Bahamas Electricity Corporation’s (BEC) legacy pollution was yesterday branded as “not even a band aid” by environmental activists, who are forging ahead with the imminent launch of legal action.
Fred Smith QC, legal director for the Save the Bays environmental advocacy group, told Tribune Business it had little trust in the Government’s pledges, given that it had repeatedly failed to tackle BEC’s multiple pollution woes.
And he questioned how the Christie administration would know that $20 million was sufficient to deal with all BEC’s environmental liabilities, some of which are decades old and spread across numerous Bahamian islands.
Mr Smith was responding after Deputy Prime Minister Philip Davis, in unveiling the legislative package to reform BEC and the wider energy sector, told the House of Assembly on Wednesday that some $20 million was being allocated to deal with the Corporation’s legacy pollution issues.
This $20 million will be generated from the Rate Reduction Bond (RRB) offering that is designed to refinance BEC’s existing debt and pave the way for reform, with the Deputy Prime Minister indicating that this figure is a ‘cap’ beyond which the Government will not pay a cent more to deal with environmental issues.
“The RRBs will also pay initial costs of environmental remediation, not exceeding the sum of $20 million, inclusive of ancillary and associated costs, as determined by the Government,” Mr Davis said on Wednesday.
Mr Smith, though, suggested yesterday that the promised $20 million was just a fraction of the finances needed to properly remediate long-standing BEC pollution that has impacted multiple locations throughout the Bahamas.’
“That’s not even a band aid,” he told Tribune Business of the sum promised by Mr Davis.
“In this day and age, the Government should be transparent and accountable, so we would know whether $20 million is or is not sufficient.
“I ask: What is the magic in the $20 million figure? Why $20 million? What does the Government know that we do not know?”
Tribune Business understands that a multi-million sum alone is required to properly remediate the pollution at BEC’s Clifton Pier power plant, which continues to impact both the surrounding land and marine environment.
The Government has been warned repeatedly that the Clifton situation threatens the $76 million dive industry, which relies on numerous sites in the area, plus the nearby National Heritage Park and other environmental attractions.
Several informed sources, who have seen some of the environmental studies conducted at Clifton Pier, have told Tribune Business that the oil pollution is so bad that it is actually threatening to undermine rock structures at the location.
Confirming that Save the Bays will imminently launch Judicial Review proceedings in the Supreme Court against various government agencies over the alleged failure to stop BEC’s repeated pollution of Clifton Bay, Mr Smith said: “Save the Bays is intimately concerned with the oil pollution at Clifton Pier.
“We have had studies conducted, and we are about to launch a Judicial Review to seek to hold the Department of Environmental Health Services and the Ministry of Environment, etc, accountable for their statutory responsibilities.”
Suggesting that the Deputy Prime Minister’s House statement was “falling on deaf ears”, he added: “The Government, through different ministries and ministers, have repeatedly promised to do something about the problems at Clifton Pier.
“Despite their repeated promises, and engagement of companies to do reports and/or to do remediation, the pollution continues.”
Pointing out that pictures of swimmers, covered in oil and emerging from Clifton’s waters, were appearing on social media, Mr Smith added: “What is even more shocking is that Clifton sits in the middle of a new west New Providence Marine Protected Area (MAP), dedicated as an environmental preserve by the Government.”
Arguing that Save the Bays had “no faith” in the Christie administration making good on its promises, Mr Smith urged it to disclose who gad been granted the Clifton remediation contract, and at what price.
“Who will get the benefit of the hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil sitting under BEC? Is it to be the remediation company, or the people of the Bahamas, who can recover the benefit from the re-sell of that oil, if and when it is extracted?” the outspoken QC asked.
Mr Smith also called on the Government to disclose who the failed remediation bidders were, and why they did not receive the contract.
“We’d like to know the basis of how BEC buys its oil,” he added. “Does BEC get the best price? Do they buy on spot contracts?
“If so, I ask in a true spirit of transparency and accountability to the Bahamian public, as to why - with the price of oil collapsing throughout the world - the Bahamas still pays exorbitant prices for electricity?”
Mr Smith also questioned what the Government was doing with the funds raised from the Environmental Levy implemented in the 2013-2014 Budget year.
And he called on the Ministry of the Environment and Ministry of Works to divulge the contents of the numerous “secret” reports on Clifton to the Bahamian people.
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