“As primary advisor to The Bahamas Government on environmental issues, and as its mandated protector, I do not believe that this is the time for The Bahamas to engage in the kind of activity which these companies are proposing,” said
chairman of the Bahamas Environment Science and Technology Commission Keod Smith on Thursday.
He said there is no gazetted environmental policy or legislative regime that adequately addresses environment protection and conservation, let alone, how The Bahamas will govern LNG regasification plants.
“As I am in the process of advancing suggestions to the government as to the substance and format such policy and legislation should take. I am hopeful that the cabinet of The Bahamas will not proceed any further in determining whether these proposals will be approved,” he said.
While many hours and thousands of dollars have been put into the investigation and compilation of the environmental impact assessment of AES Corp., Mr. Smith it is not to be considered a “flip-switch” that automatically causes The Bahamas to approve such projects.
AES Corp. is among several companies requesting government approval to construct a Bahamas-United States LNG pipeline.
“While the actual science of regasifying LNG is do-able, there is no evidence provided thus far or known, which suggests that it is 100 per cent safe to the natural environment or to man,” Mr. SDmith said.
“As such, I believe that the standard by which we are to decide, must necessarily be very high. I make no apologies for this.”
Mr. Smith said another factor that has not yet been adequately considered in the proposals advanced, is security. He said the miles and miles of pipeline from The Bahamas to the USA couldn’t be fully protected and guarded with the country’s limited resources. He said it might not be appropriate to conceive a private defence force to guard such facilities.
“These problems are compounded by the apparent need for speed in the review process by the proposing companies. In determining the time which should be allocated for public review and commentary, we must be cognizant of the fact that we are a developing archipelagic nation,” Mr. Smith said.
In order to benefit from the experiences and knowledge of as wide a cross section of Bahamians as possible, he went on, it is necessary to allow for much more time than the recently announced 20-day period for public review.
He said no less than 90 days is required, and in order for the EIA to achieve maximum exposure, full copies of the document must be made available in all of the major islands, or alternatively on the internet for anyone to review.
According to Mr. Smith, the BEST commission has been deliberately very “quiet” over the past few months, not wanting to get involved in the “public ramble.”
He said that on the basis of his responsibilities as chairman, he did not feel that it was appropriate for The Bahamas to engage in discussions that would cause the public to believe that approval to have a gas pipeline built would happen before the end of the year.
“We need more time,” he said, adding that the cabinet has not determined how it will proceed, therefore any talk from anyone about when construction would commence is certainly “premature.”
“I am not wanting to say that we are delaying. In effect, that may be what is, but the reality is that I do not feel that we can in all logic and in all goodness to ourselves, move forward without these very tall hurdles being cleared,” he said.
“How do we know that LNG for someone else’s country is something we want to entertain?” he asked. “Cabinet has to make this decision, but until that decision is made, there is still a question mark over the possible negative impact to the environment that I see.”
The $4-million environmental impact assessment for the AES Corp. project, as well as its environment management plan and all other supporting documents were made available for review by all interested parties at the offices of the BEST commission from Oct. 27-Nov. 21. A four-week public review period will be followed by town meetings, the first scheduled for Nov. 24 in Nassau and Nov. 26 in Bimini.
Environmentalist and director of ReEarth, Sam Duncombe, who also attended the press conference, said she hopes cabinet follows Mr. Smith’s advice.
“Nobody is saying that we don’t want these projects to happen. We are saying, and what we have always said, is that we need time to properly go through the process and the public has to be made aware of what’s going on,” she said.
Later on Thursday, AES project director Aaron Samson, told The Guardian that Mr. Smith was “obviously not reading the EIA documents and does understand the extensive amount of control” that the company has given BEST and the government, through its environmental management plan.
“They will have all kinds of enforcement capabilities, but specifically in agreement with the government, we have agreed to penalty provisions for environmental compliance and I don’t know what his agenda his,” he said.
“What is most irritating is he (Keod Smith) has not participated in the process at all,” he said.
AES Corp. wants to build a pipeline between Ocean Cay, Bimini, and Dania Beach, Fl. It proposes constructing a terminal to receive liquefied natural gas (LNG) via ocean tankers, store the liquid gas, 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 15-20 experts from ICF Consulting of Washington, D.C., offering technical assistance.
At a press conference at the Ministry of Health on Oct. 23, Minister of Health and Environment Marcus Bethel said his ministry was looking for input from all segments of society with an interest in the project. He said cabinet had not made any decision about any of the proposals submitted and would not do so until the public had an opportunity to make an input into the matter.
By Tamara McKenzie, The Nassau Guardian
