Bahamas Electrical Corporation intends to “set the record straight” today and respond to claims that they have knowingly been discharging oil into the sea near Clifton Pier power plant.
This comes after local reports that the company fired a professional clean-up company and are now having to use their own personnel, a “dinghy” and “liquid detergent” to clean up continuous oil discharges in the ocean.
“There was some report of an unknown staff member who made some comment that was not released by BEC,” said general manager Bradley Roberts.
“Tomorrow (today) we will be putting together a release and we will just be setting the record straight in our involvement in the preservation of the environment at Clifton,” he said.
According to one newspaper report, BayChem Spill Technologies has been replaced by BEC workers in a dinghy who daily dilute the oily substance with liquid detergent.
The sources claim that more than 100 gallons of oil comes out of BEC’s cooling outfalls into the ocean on a monthly basis.
The oily substance, identified as Bunker C Fuel, was first linked to BEC in The Tribune article “Pollution Finger Pointed At BEC” published March 6,
In the article, a well placed government official said BEC had been discharging oil in the waters around the plant for years, evident by the oil deposits carried by the tide that have scarred the banks off Clifton Cay.
Since then the corporation has consulted an international firm to conduct an environmental assessment of the plant, which will also soon be released, said Mr. Roberts.
