Explaining the company’s decision to move forward with a liquefied natural gas proposal that would be constructed off the coast of Florida, an official of Suez Energy North America said on Monday that the company was unable to secure a meeting with Prime Minister Christie.
Expanding on comments made earlier by the company’s CEO William P. Utt, Vice President of Communications Paula Rockstroh told The Bahama Journal that the company could no longer sit and wait to hear from the government.
“We had received support from the Grand Bahama Port Authority as well as other stakeholders in Grand Bahama,” Ms. Rockstroh explained.
“What the next step would be is to hear directly from the prime minister. At this point, we have not received a decision one way or the other.”
Suez is hoping that it would be able to help meet South Florida’s increased demand for energy sources by 2010.
“A continued delay or absence of any type of approval from the Bahamian government puts us in a difficult position,” Ms. Rockstroh said. “We would not be able to supply the Florida market at the time it desperately needs the source of energy.”
Suez, formerly Tractebel, had been proposing to construct an LNG project in the Freeport Harbour, but the Bahamas Environment Science and Technology Commission (BEST) had determined that that location was not a suitable site.
Government officials have not made any comment on the Suez project in a while. They had always maintained that the AES project, planned for Ocean Cay off Bimini, was closer to getting approval.
Some Bahamians, meanwhile, have maintained that LNG projects would be harmful to the environment.
However, Ms. Rockstroh said Suez thinks its Bahamas plan “is still a very good project.”
“Unfortunately, we do not have any timeframe for the government to make a decision and we have not been able to trigger a reaction from the government in terms of having a discussion or helping us understand what their next step would be,” she said.
Suez is now pushing a plan to develop a floating deep water LNG port off the coast of Florida.
Ms. Rockstroh said the offshore project would replace the need to create an onshore project in The Bahamas.
By: Candia Dames, The Bahama Journal
