Ambassador for the Environment, Keod Smith, said Monday that the governments approach to the consultation process for the supply of liquefied natural gas from The Bahamas to South Florida is four-fold.
Three international companies are vying to implement multi-million dollar gas pipelines.
He said it must first be determined by the Cabinet that it will entertain the proposal, a preliminary point of which is the development of some basic understanding by Bahamian technical staff of what is being proposed. The second is to provide for an impartial/non bias forum, in which the general public can learn of the pros and cons of re-gasification of natural gas and it being pumped through pipelines.
Mr. Smith was speaking from the boardroom of The College of The Bahamas, as the tertiary institution is taking the initiative to host informational workshops on “what every Bahamian should know about pipelines and liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities.” The workshops are slated for May 15 in Grand Bahama and May 16 in New Providence.
“Allowing for the constructive input of the Bahamian public, on whether and why they would want the LNG project to come about, in addition to determining whether the government would proceed with allowing the proposals to take root after considering all points raised,” were the third and fourth approaches outlined by Mr. Smith during the consultation process.
Mr. Smith, however, failed to speak about any headway the government was making in reference to granting an official “go ahead” to any of the three companies that want to implement LNG pipelines through The Bahamas.
“This is not a press conference to delve into any of those,” he said. ” It is not the intention of The College of The Bahamas and certainly not our intention at this point, to go into any of the specifics. We are here from the point of view from the scholastic type of approach we need to have with these matters and to support COB in its mandate to bring this particular workshop about,” he said.
Mr. Smith said that the BEST Commission would have some of its technical staff present at the workshop to assist with some of the peculiarities regarding LNG pipelines.
“We will be speaking generally about the environment in which the proposed developers are to be set up and how and where they are proposed to go, but all of these will be really against the backdrop of what COB’s mandate or proposals are,” said Mr. Smith.
The Ambassador for the Environment said the proposed workshop would be a jumpstart at allowing individuals to have a basic understanding about LNG pipeline implementation. He admitted that the one-day workshop in Nassau and Grand Bahama would not be enough time to go though the “dynamics” of what needs to be considered.
President of the College of The Bahamas, Dr. Leon Higgs, explained that the informational workshops, will address many questions, mainly: How is natural gas liquefied and moved through pipes, how are the pipelines constructed, environmental and safety issues, in addition to what are the types of issues that come up in a typical pipeline environmental impact assessment.
According to Dr. Higgs, the current international regulations and guidelines for pipeline construction, attempts to find out whether these facilities explode, or are a danger to adjacent neighbours, in addition to how LNG facilities are operated, will also be explored.
The COB President said that they have also secured the services of consultants with extensive experience and knowledge on the environmental and safety issues of LNG pipelines and pipeline facilities to conduct the workshops.
Dr Higgs said the workshops will be a series of short presentations, with videos and visual aids, followed by questions and discussion.
“The workshops are informational workshops and no specifics of the current proposed pipeline projects will be discussed. The College of The Bahamas will not be discussing or endorsing any of the particulars of the three projects, which are now proposed for The Bahamas,” he said.
The three international companies that want to establish LNG pipelines from The Bahamas include: AES Corp οΎ— A New Jersey based Applied Energy Services, formed in 1981; Tractebel, a Belgian energy firm and the Houston-based El Paso Corporation.
By Tamara McKenzie, The Nassau Guardian
