Negotiations are hoped to lead to eventually signing a heads of agreement. This, according to a confident AES project director, Aaron Samoson on Tuesday.
According to Mr. Samson, AES has so far done everything requested by the government in an effort to gain approval. He admitted that neither he nor the lawyers acting for AES were informed last week Thursday when formal announcements were made from the Ministry of Health and Environment about the EIA review being completed by the BEST Commission.
Mr. Samson further noted that AES was expected to receive thumbs up or down response from the Government sometime before the end of the year. This, he said, would be followed with AES finalising its “financing” package and management plans, in addition to settling final approvals with the United States.
“The schedule right now is probably a March or April construction, beginning more likely in May or June,” he said, adding that negotiations leading up to approval is an on-going process that would require additional meetings with the government and various ministries.
“Clearly now, with this hurdle (the EIA assessment) behind us, there is a little more attention to finalising things, so I clearly expect for it to be done before the end of the year,” he said.
Mr. Samson said that AES was satisfied with the review, but only hoped that the process was much quicker. He explained that the EIA of AES had been submitted to the BEST Commission since 2001 and had not been fully completed until September 2003. He added however, that he understood the delay since this was the first time that The Bahamas had ever considered the construction of an LNG pipeline.
“I think BEST has done an extensive job, but I have not been through a process that was this extensive anywhere,” he admitted.
Mr. Samson also added that the review process might have also taken a long time, because the BEST Commission wanted to complete the EIA as well as complete most of the management plan for the project before submitting it to Cabinet.
On the other hand, Mr. Samson said that because of the delayed time, AES is now competing with two projects in the United States and one in Mexico that have received approval, of which the approval process for one of the companies in the United States started less than a year ago.
“The concept of these things taking five years to be approved in the U.S. has been completely proven wrong,” he claimed.
Mr. Samson said that if AES were granted government’s approval to construct an LNG pipeline in The Bahamas, it would create some 400-construction jobs and 45 permanent jobs for Bahamians. He also informed that AES intended to pay a “big chunk of cash” yearly to the government once the plant became fully operational.
“Direct payments to the government are going to be around $15 million a year,” he said, adding that there were other “specific” advantages that would be provided to Bahamians once completed, but did not want to make such announcements until an official Heads of Agreement is signed.
“When we are done with this, you will see the other pieces that we are committed to both for Bimini and for other areas, such as environmental research and other things that we are committed to do; so there are other direct benefits other than $15 million a year,” he said, adding that AES would not be taking any services from the government and the $15 million is only a “bottom line revenue.”
Meanwhile, Minister of Health and Environment, Dr. Marcus Bethel, announced last Thursday that the “full documentation” covering the Environmental Impact Assessment for the AES Corp project, as well as the Environment Management Plan and all other supporting documents were being made available for review by all interested parties at the offices of the BEST Commission over a four week period beginning Oct. 27-Nov. 21. The EIA documents would be available for viewing by appointment at the BEST Commission, Nassau Court, from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Monday to Friday. Appointments to review the documents can be made by any members of the public by calling the BEST Commission. The review will be supervised and no recording equipment will be allowed into the room and the documents cannot be removed from the room.
AES Corp, based in Arlington Virginia, wants to build a gas pipeline between Ocean Cay, Bimini and Dania Beach, Florida. It proposes to construct a terminal to receive liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) via ocean tankers, store the liquid gas, re-convert it to natural gas and send it to The United States via pipeline. The $600 million project has undergone extensive review and analysis in both The Bahamas and the United States, with ICF Consulting of Washington D.C. offering technical assistance.
Dr. Bethel said that the Ministry was looking for input from all segments of society that had an interest in the project. He emphasised however, that Cabinet had not yet made any decision about any of the proposals submitted and would not do so until the public had had an opportunity to give an input.
“We expect that sometime towards the end of November, the comments and questions that have been submitted will have been addressed and Cabinet would be apprised of those concerns before it makes any decision on the way forward,” he said at the time.
The four-week public review period would be followed by town meetings, the first scheduled for Nov. 24 in the capital and Nov. 26 in Bimini. The BEST Commission following all town meetings would submit its final report to Cabinet incorporation all concerns from the public and other interested parties.
The BEST Commission is now reviewing the EIA of El Paso Corp. The company envisions to construct a similar pipeline on Grand Bahama from a re-pressurisation facility near South Riding Point on Grand Bahama to Martin County in South Florida οΎ— about 40 miles in Bahamian waters and 20 miles on Grand Bahama itself.
Tractebel is the third company expected to submit an EIA to the BEST Commission. It wants to build a 100 mile pipeline from Freeport Harbour on Grand Bahama to Port Everglades, also about 50 miles in Bahamian waters. The Tractebel project will use an existing deepwater port
By Tamara McKenzie, The Nassau Guardian
