The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

Exuma’s oil spill recovery was yesterday said to be “down to the last 10-15 percent” with the clean-up effort becoming progressively harder as more diesel fuel is pumped out.

Roston McGreggor, owner/operator of Valiant Marine Salvage, the company leading the effort to remediate the 30,000-gallon spill, told Tribune Business that while they started off seeing a two-inch thick diesel film on top of the water, most of this has been pumped out and recovered in just over 24 hours.

However, the recovery effort is getting harder now that there is less fuel to recover. “The diesel to water [ratio] is shifting, and we’re sucking up more and more water and far less fuel in return, so it’s taking longer and it is a bit frustrating,” Mr McGreggor added.

“We’re working in shallow water, and right now we’re working with a very thin film of diesel. If we suck up 6,000 gallons of fluid, 5,000 of that might be water and only 1,000 of it is fuel, versus when we started out 90 percent of what we were sucking up was fuel. So we are not getting as much bang for our buck any more. We’re down to our last 10 percent or 15 percent of it. It’s just that now every gallon that we recover takes a lot more time and effort.”

Valiant Marine Salvage is doing all the clean-up from the shoreline. Its main salvage boat has not been deployed despite the work being “tedious and backbreaking”, as well as very “labour intensive”. A team of 12 persons were working at the site near the Old Navy Base, after most of the spill was contained in the bay near the Exuma Sailing Club.

“I don’t even know how much longer I’m going to be out here. I’ve never dealt with a situation like this, and I won’t try to put labels and timelines on things,” Mr McGreggor added.

Dr Rhianna Neely-Murphy, director of the Department of Environmental Planning and Protection (DEPP), said extraction activities continued throughout Wednesday night and stopped at 2am yesterday morning.They restarted again at 5am, with “approximately 20,000 gallons of fuel” already pumped from the sea.

She added: “We expect that the majority of the fuel, and remaining fuel, should be removed from the site between this afternoon and tomorrow, and then we will continue with the remediation activities. Sand will be removed; it will be aerated and cleaned as best as possible.”

Investigations are ongoing to determine whether any fines will be levied against the parties involved in the spill, which occurred when a hose “ruptured” while transferring the diesel fuel from the MT Arabian, a vessel owned by a third party contracted by Sun Oil, to Bahamas Power & Light’s (BPL) storage tanks.

“According to legislation, government, of course, has a duty to pursue this,” Mrs Neely-Murphy said. “So we will continue the investigation into exactly what happened. We’re communicating with Sun Oil and other stakeholders to get a better understanding of what happened, and once we have a better understanding of exactly what happened we’ll be able to make a clear decision.”

Dallas Knowles, co-owner of the Exuma Sailing Club, said the clean-up effort was going well, “Valiant Marine feels that they have gotten about 28,000 gallons of diesel out of the 30,00 gallons, and they’re just sucking up the last of it now before they can put the chemicals on what’s left,” he added.

The Exuma Sailing Club is less than three miles away from the spill site, but any damage has not spread to their sailing area. “I think the Port did a good job getting on it really quick, and they avoided a lot of issues and it looks like it’s pretty much going to be cleaned up today,” Mr Knowles said.

Monica Minns, general manager of Minns Cottages, added: “Those guys worked right through the night.They pumped all of that out, and they maintained the spill right in that little area, so Valiant Marine had done a fantastic job. That could have been such a disaster if they had not taken care of that immediately. They have done a great job.”

With the spill contained and site blocked off, the beachfront for a mile in each direction from the site is “crystal clear” and guests were swimming and enjoying themselves at the adjoining properties. “My guests are swimming right in front of Minns Cottages and they are on the beach. The spill didn’t affect the surrounding waters at all; the beach is pure white and there is no oil that is spilled out there. The spill is contained right in that Bay,” Ms Minns confirmed.