Not unlike the contracts awarded the Bush administrations cronies in the rebuilding of Iraq like the one awarded Haliburton, it seems we have our own Haliburton ﾖ Bahamian style. Dick Cheney, Vice President of the United States, who served as Haliburton Energyﾒs, CEO until 2000, did $73 million business with Iraq between 1998 and 2000. ﾓToday he draws compensation of up to a million dollars a year from the company, although his spokesperson denies that the White House helped the company win the contractﾔ. (Corpwatch)
Kerr Mc Geeﾒs legal representation is none other than Philip ﾓBraveﾔ Davis of Davis and Co., formerly Christie Davis and Co., the Prime Ministerﾒs former partner and firm. Does this disturb anyone? The Tribuneﾒs June 16 2003 Government notice of application for licenses for oil exploration for Kerr Mc Gee is dated 1987.
Last week David Christian Vice President of Kerr McGee led us down the garden path, saying that because they have done this kind of exploration in the Gulf of Mexico, that an EIA is not a necessity in the Blake Plateau in the northern Bahamas. Doesnﾒt it bother anyone that we are now taking developers/investors word regarding the necessity of an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)? Since when does the developer/investor dictate to the Bahamas what is needed for a development to proceed? In todayﾒs world given all that has been learned regarding human impact on the environment there is NO reason for Kerr Mc Geeﾒs not to conduct an EIA for seismic testing.
If we follow Mr. Christiansﾒ logic then we could virtually do away with harassing developers for an EIA, since to have performed an EIA for a development in New Providence should mean that we would not have to have one done for a development in Exuma. This is completely absurd and utter hogwash. One would think that a global corporation that boasts environmental responsibility, Kerr Mc Gee would demonstrate the same high standards of environmental review that its company claims to practice at home.
According to Joel Reynolds (Senior Attorney) and Michael Jasny (Senior Policy Analyst) of the Natural resources Defense Council, in the United States, the Marine Mammal Protection Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, the Endangered Species Act and the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act would not allow a company to drill in a new area without first surveying for species and gathering baseline data on abundance and distribution.
We don’t know if this area is important to marine mammals or fish populations, and unless surveys are done, we won’t know what impacts the exploration will have, said Sam Duncombe. During the Clifton debate, Robert Kennedy Jr., Senior Attorney, for the Natural Resources Defense Council said ﾓThe environmental assessment process was designed to allow businesses, governments, and communities to look before they leap. It must give the public and government decision makers a clear assessment of all the costs and benefits of a project prior to its commencement.ﾔ Undoubtedly, this statement applies to this situation we are currently faced with.
According to a Greenwire article (a leading source for comprehensive, daily coverage of environmental and energy politics and policy) U.S. Magistrate James Larson ordered the National Science Foundation to immediately stop firing high-decibel air guns into waters off Baja California, citing the deaths in August 2002 of two beaked whales.
Larson said “sound levels this high could cause serious tissue damage to marine mammals,” referring to the beaching of 16 whales in the Bahamas blamed on high decibel sonar. The deaths of at least six whales to underwater noise were linked by a report by military and civilian scientists in March 2000.
Attorney for The Center for Biological Diversity, Brendan Cummings, who filed the suit to stop the research, said scientists from the University of California-San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography estimated the guns being used in the most recent tests have the capability of generating up to 263 decibels. Previous research indicates noise at 180 decibels can cause damage to whales.
Never mind that the PLPﾒs platform, ﾓOur Planﾔ promised to ﾓpreserve and protect the natural environment in trust for future generationsﾔ. (pg36) The opening letter of their platform also committed them to ﾓface the future with a more compassionate, sensitive and honest governmentﾅconfident and responsive leadership that is caring and approachable; leadership that can share your dreams and feel your pain; leadership whose authority springs from the people and is excised for the people; leadership that understands that you are the masters ﾖ not the servants.ﾔ Not to mention ﾓto give the people ﾅ a legal ﾓright to knowﾔﾅto break the culture of secrecy in Government decisions which leads to arrogance in governance and a loss of pubic confidence in Government.ﾔ (pg 60) This is a clearly a case where ﾓpiece of paper will lay down and let you write anything on it.ﾔ
The governments recent actions regarding exploration of oil and preclusion of the public in any debate on the issue, have all but declared war on the environment, on our Planet home, are threatening the ability of our children to have a sustained future, and furiously fueling our lack of confidence in them. They used the passion of the people who care about their countryﾒs environment to help them achieve the seat of power and have now cast that passion aside. We should not be rushing into a deal that may cause irreparable harm to our nation and our people before we have had a chance to weigh the benefits and costs. A hasty deal may leave us with long-term costs that far out exceed the short-term benefits.
The obvious rejection of the FNMﾒs arrogance by the electorate seems to have been lost on this government.
Sam Duncombe
