The CEO of one of the companies that have been waiting several years now for the government to make a decision on their liquefied natural gas proposals has expressed frustration at the Christie Administration's inability to make up its mind on whether to approve the projects.
It's why the company has decided to shelve its Bahamas proposal.
Since 2002, Trade and Industry Minister Leslie Miller has been indicating that the government would announce a decision "in short order", and Prime Minister Perry Christie told The Bahama Journal the same in December.
But no decision on LNG has been forthcoming.
CEO of Suez Energy North America, William P. Utt, told the U.S. press recently that his firm, formerly Tractebel, had not heard anything from the government "in about a year."
"The government before was very pro business and things got done," Mr. Utt said. "This government that exists today appears less able to evaluate and feel comfortable making commitments for industrial development. They are very focused on tourism. Some of our programmes had been to improve the tourism in The Bahamas. I think a lot of folks are frustrated."
Back in December when he spoke to The Bahama Journal on LNG, Prime Minister Christie said the reason why no project had been approved yet was because he became concerned that such project would hurt this country's image as a leading tourism destination.
"In fact, most people who knew me knew that I had a particular difficulty, not just with Grand Bahama, but with the perception of what The Bahamas actually is and that there is an incredible amount of money, I mean billions of dollars I suppose now we spend marketing 'It's better in The Bahamas' or 'It just keeps getting better'," he said.
"I wasn't sure when you juxtapose an LNG plant with that perception that causes people to come here and that really reinforces what saves us the cash flow into the country based on tourism receipts. I wasn't sure that LNG plants in The Bahamas were consistent with that."
But Prime Minister Christie said his government still expected to approve an LNG project in the "near future".
"I think the new revelations of energy problems and the need for The Bahamas to take advantage of its proximity to the United States of America have given us a different perspective and a different value to that process," he told The Journal.
"Provided – as we have had – environmental impact assessments say that it is safe and that [there would be] very, very, very minimal implications to the environment then we, I believe, would go ahead in the very near future."
Mr. Utt said his company would still continue to engage in dialogue with Bahamian officials.
"We have very good relations with the Grand Bahama Port Authority around Freeport," he was quoted as saying. "It has been a very good sponsor for us. But the government, for reasons I will leave to the government, has not elected to move forward on issuing any permits for any of the sites in The Bahamas."
He also indicated that the frustration extended beyond Suez.
"I had dinner last night with a gentleman from AES and we were kind of joking about our mutual stalemate that we have in The Bahamas," Mr. Utt said. "Neither one of us is sure what will happen."
Government officials had said repeatedly that AES, which wants to construct an LNG plant on Ocean Cay, near Cat Cay and Bimini, was the front-runner in the race to approval.
A decision regarding the AES project, government officials said, was impacted by the strong objection raised by residents of Cat Cay, who are in the main wealthy second-home owners.
The residents on the tiny island insisted that the project would harm the environment.
While AES officials continue to await their decision, Mr. Utt and Suez are pursuing other plans.
Suez had planned to build an LNG terminal on Grand Bahama. Now it intends to build an LNG terminal in the ocean about 10 miles off Fort Lauderdale.
The company reportedly plans to import natural gas from Trinidad, Algeria and Egypt and would carry out its operation strictly in U.S. territory and not in The Bahamas as it had been proposing.
Mr. Utt was quoted as saying, "The pipeline already is approved so we will just truncate it offshore. It will be far enough offshore so that the visual impact and the safety impact should be very remote to any Floridian."
By: Candia Dames, The Bahama Journal
