Having invested millions to meet the approval demands to construct a liquefied natural gas pipeline in The Bahamas, two energy companies may sue the government if it fails to give them the green light on their projects, The (Nassau) Guardian has learned.
“These companies have so far invested millions to get this project off the ground and they could very well sue the government if the Prime Minister does not make some sort of decision soon,” alleged a high profile government source on Thursday.
The source also reliably informed The Guardian that Trade and Industry Minister,’ Leslie Miller was expected to voice the lawsuit threats at Thursday’s Cabinet meeting and hopefully urge Prime Minister Christie to make some sort of decision soon. However, when The Guardian placed a call to Mr Miller to question him about the source’s allegations, he said he was not willing to talk about LNG because he was on his way to attend the memorial service for the 11 victims that died on the crashed Chalk’s flight 101.
And even though Tractebel (now Suez) pulled out of the LNG race earlier this month, the source claimed that that company may still launch a lawsuit against the government because it had reportedly invested more than $70 million to obtain an Environmental Impact Assessment and other approvals to construct a pipeline from South Florida to Grand Bahama.
Up to press time on Thursday night, an official at Tractebel could not be reached for comment, while AES’ Vice President of Investor Relations, Scott Cunningham, said it has been a while since he had been briefed on the pipeline project. He added however, that the company would wait on Prime Minister Christie to weigh the pros and cons of their proposal.
Asked if AES would sue the government if their project was rejected, Mr Cunningham only responded that he did not want to “speculate scenarios.”
On the other hand, AES’ Project Director, Aaron Samson, told The Guardian this August that the company was dishing out more than a $100,000 a month to retain the services of various LNG experts, while the government continued to ponder if it should grant permission to the Virginia based energy giant. He also revealed that AES had spent some $2.5 million over the past year and half to “clean up” Ocean Cay, in order to prepare it for an LNG re-gasification facility.
Mr Samson said AES had completed a positive Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) with the BEST Commission, in addition to meeting international approvals, but the Company was still forced to spend a lot of money to remain in a mode of “limbo”.
“Everything is done, but it’s an expensive waiting period at this point, which is contributing to the frustration that we have,” he said.
“We have completed so many of the permitting and real estate activities, but it is a very expensive period, as it is very difficult to keep contractors, engineers and the management folks, as we have them sitting in limbo.”
Presently, Virginia based AES Corp has plans to build a pipeline between Ocean Cay, Bimini, and Dania Beach, Florida. It also proposes to construct a terminal to receive liquefied natural gas via ocean tankers, store the liquid gas, re-convert it to natural gas through warming and send it to the United States via a 94 mile pipeline.
Minister of Health and the Environment, Dr Marcus Bethel, has openly supported the construction of an LNG regasification facility and noted that all potential risks have been proven to be acceptable, but Chairman of BEST Commission and Ambassador for the Environment, Keod Smith, personally announced his rejection of any proposed LNG re-gasification facility in The Bahamas.
By TAMARA McKENZIE Guardian Senior Reporter
