Drilling will destroy us

As of Thursday, November 12, 2020

EDITOR, The Tribune.

The Bahamian people have become accustomed to being shafted. Since time immemorial there has been secret deals where the people have been given the “stinking end of the stick”, an unenviable position.

The drilling by Bahamas Petroleum Company is no different, and we will not let this dangerous, life-threatening, environmental disaster, go silently by without our voices being heard.

In my opinion there has been one shady deal after another, designed specifically to rob Bahamians of their very birthright. But since it has been allowed to happen in the past, it cannot be the excuse for us to lay down and play dead to be shafted again.

The impending dirty oil deal that is literally on the horizon, will be the “catastrophe waiting to happen, regardless of what and how much money is being made or how many jobs it will create.

This old carrot of jobs dangling is really an insult, because the investors have disrespected us just like the Bay Street Boys did when they offered a sack of flour, while they took acres of our beachfront property.

The Bahamian who would allow the colour of the skin of the investor to be an advantage, does not exist.

The Prime Minister, in his sheepish attitude, is keeping tight-lipped, and would not address this vexing matter. There have been numerous attempts to communicate with him by opponents of this oil drilling project, but the silence is deafening.

Where are the coward Bahamians who pretend to love this country? Why are we hiding in our closets grumbling under our collective breath? What happened to the activists who claim that they are raw-born Bahamians, and love this country? Do they really care?

What happened to the hard mouth people who hang out on social media, hiding behind fake names? It is high time that we fight for our country.

Imagine this, an oil spill that destroys all of our beaches, kills our fish, destroys our coral, what do you think will happen to the tourists and hotels. We will be finished for good this time and we all will be “picking peas out………”

ALOMA THURSTON

Nassau,

November 10, 2020.

JokeyJack 3 years, 5 months ago

That's the other point here. These environmental people can't walk and chew gum at the same time. They seem totally incapable of asking the question of how much money we are supposed to get out of the deal. It's like their tongue would catch on fire it they asked. You can't do a cost/benefit analysis if you don't know the potential costs and the potential benefits. In this case, they refuse to even ask what the benefits may be.

That makes me wonder if they are in cahoots with the government and the oil company - to keep the public's eye off the money (as always), and thus they laugh all the way to the bank. Bahamians stay poor as always. The big companies get the conch salad, and the regular people get the slop.

Dawes 3 years, 5 months ago

Its not up to them to provide the cost benefit analysis, it is up to the oil drillers to do that. They need to show why this country should go ahead with it. And they should not just show a number but show how they got to that figure. But they won't as they know it doesn't make economic sense.

JokeyJack 3 years, 5 months ago

Dawes - you make an excellent point - however, the rumor on the street (which I what we Bahamians have to work with) - is that there exists and agreement of HOA or something in writing whatever it may be, already between the government and this company. Permission to drill exploratory wells has been give (so we hear).

The government could, if it wished, "man up" and admit that they have absolutely no idea how much money we are supposed to get from a successful drill - or they could give the numbers suggested in any documentation. In the first case, they would be admitting that they allowed someone to come in and explore the possibility of drilling oil with absolutely no idea what they (we?) might get out of it. This would be like someone investing half a million dollars (a regular citizen) in a proposed company that will grow and process hemp in the near future should it be legalized, without knowing what prices hemp products sell for, how much is involved in growing them, nor how much is involved in processing them. A hemp rope that sells for $20, may cost $60 to grow and produce here in the Bahamas. Does that sound like a wise investment? Of course the numbers may be the other way around - but how would we know? Would you put your signature without knowing?

JokeyJack 3 years, 5 months ago

Trust me though, they know. All of them involved know. It's only us who don't know. Enjoy your conch slop. If you run out, hit me up, I have an extra bowl.

MyBahamas 3 years, 5 months ago

I am sure the government is aware of how much taxes we shall collect from any oil produced by the oil company.

I, like many, want one day be free of anything coming from oil, ie, car interiors, tyres, fuel, all the (pots, handles, cups, bowls, gas we find in our kitches), then we have all paints, carpets, clothing, shoes, belts, caps, mattresses, sofas, the external parts of all electronic equipment we all use, including telephones, chargers and headphones! Now the food wrappers! God knows, I haven't even scraped the top! The worst is that for manufacturing of all these things jobs are created and taxes collected.

Until that day arrive we should all say no to another oil drill and the billions of dollars that income could generate to our country, not to mention possible 1st generation job creation? I am sorry, but the job should be carried out efficiently and our country should collect the taxes to benefit our population. That's how it works in other countries and should also be done here.

ColumbusPillow 3 years, 5 months ago

The target is a big seismic structure which has already been drilled 3 times on the Cuban side with no success by the Russians, the Americans and by the Spanish. Regrettably, the stratigraphy lacks the presence of salt which is often necessary to seal any oil pool, if present..

Porcupine 3 years, 5 months ago

Says the company whose spokespeople have nothing to lose.

concerned799 3 years, 5 months ago

Worst case scenario is a blow out well. It could take hundreds of millions to seal it and months of leaking oil fouling all of the Bahamas. Then long after most of it disperses, most tourists just assume we are still fouled in oil and do not come to the Bahamas for years, maybe decades. Total ruination of the economy and much of our environment. Without certainty of being paid even the relief well drillers might not show up to cap the blown well. And a small oil company could not hope to pay the liability, their insurers will refuse to pay, likely do not even have offices in the Bahamas and the public will be left with the bill. The Bahamas is not the US who held lots and lots of leverage over BP.

So nothing is worth that.

And Mexico had a blow out well, and the US did.

We are somehow so special it can never happen here?

Porcupine 3 years, 5 months ago

Clearly drilling for oil in this day and age is a huge mistake by The Bahamas. However, so many people have sold their souls that the talk is all about the money, nothing more. This money does not exist yet. But, our pristine waters, our fabulous beaches, and our abundant fisheries do. It amazes me that some people are willing to risk it all for the promise of a handful of dollars. I suspect that these people are unfamiliar with, and spend little time out of their offices. As the letter writer says, haven't we been down this road before. Will we never learn? Especially troubling is the silence from our supposedly science based Prime Minister. All of the science suggests this is a bad idea. So, there must be something we do not know about that is silencing Dr. Minnis. As to the commenters here who continue to support oil drilling in The Bahamas. Sad. Hey Columbus, are you Bahamian, or just a paid shill for BPC? The others just seem to lack an education.

ColumbusPillow 3 years, 5 months ago

Six wells have already been drilled in Bahamas waters.......... No pollution reported. Several hundred wells have been drilled offshore Cuba, Trinidad and in particular Guyana....... No pollution reported. Wells are planned for offshore Jamaica and Barbados. No hysteria. Every country has the right to develop its natural resources in order to survive

tribanon 3 years, 5 months ago

Even if oil was miraculously discovered it would be the greedy unscrupulous foreigner investors and not us Bahamians who, with the help of our corrupt politicians, would get 99.99% of the profits and eventually leave us with many bills to pay. Just look at how all of the foreign direct investment in our country todate has so greatly benefitted the foreigners and left us Bahamians with an insurmountable mountain of unsustainable national debt. They get the overly generous concessions and nearly all of the profits, thanks to our corrupt politicians who get their pockets filled for the favours, and we the people get the debt burden. That's how it works and BPC would be no different, except that a good portion of our marine environment and shorelines could be destroyed.

Porcupine 3 years, 5 months ago

Well said!

ColumbusPillow 3 years, 5 months ago

Bahamas credit rating has dropped to junk status.Expect the Bahamian dollar to be seriously devalued. Government really needs to know if there are any commercial deposits of hydrocarbons in this country

tribanon 3 years, 5 months ago

You obviously don't realize that you stand a much greater chance of being charred by a great bolt of lightning on a sunny cloudless day than BPC has of finding oil anywhere in our country. With that in mind they should not be permitted to muck up our seabed by drilling holes in it as they go about looking for something that doesn't exist. BPC is a classic pump and dump penny stock company run out of the UK by a small group of shysters who are fleecing the investors they manage to successfully con.

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