Former Minister of State for the Environment Phenton Neymour yesterday suggested that the government is wasting money on the international consultants who were brought in to determine the parties responsible for the latest oil spill in waters in Southwestern New Providence.
Neymour insisted that the Bahamas Electricity Corporation (BEC) is the source of the leak. He said the government should use its money to address oil leak sites at BEC's Clifton Pier Plant.
However, BEC Executive Chairman Leslie Miller said while BEC is partly to blame, it is not the only entity that is culpable.
"The oil is not only BEC's," Miller said.
"When the analysis was done, it proved that you also had jet fuel oil."
There has been increased concern about the contamination at Clifton after several reported oil spills in the past several months.
Two weeks ago, the government engaged consultants from Coastal Systems International Inc., which is a U.S. environmental firm, to determine the source of the recent oil spill and to recommend remedial clean up.
When The Guardian visited Clifton last week, oil was spilling over BEC's waste oil tanks and into trenches that lead into the sea.
Neymour accused Miller of covering up the cause of the oil spills at Clifton Pier.
"You can see the level of contamination that exists at BEC and their failure to even attempt to clean it up or even conceal it," he said pointed to trenches that were saturated with oil.
"This is oil that the Bahamian people are paying on their fuel surcharge every month, that they are pouring into the ground. This is clearly a dereliction of duty of both the minister of environment and the chairman."
He said he suspects that millions of gallons of oil have been lost and suggested that authorities are not doing anything to stop it.
"They should immediately take action and admit to the Bahamian people what is going on," Neymour said.
However, Miller said the government is preparing to clean up the Clifton area. He said the consultants from Coastal Systems International Inc. are preparing an initial report, which would detail the action that needs to be taken to prevent future spills and to clean up the area.
Miller denied that he or anyone from the government is covering up oil spills.
He also pointed out that oil spills were also reported when Neymour was minister under the previous administration.
Neymour said when he was minister he directed BEC to establish an oil spill response unit and put in place other appropriate prevention measures.
Earlier this month, Dorsett revealed that BEC's containment booms at the Clifton Pier Plant have not been as effective as they should be.
"The BEC containment booms were not preventing all of the fuel emitted into the marine environment from spreading," he said. "It also appeared that fuel was being discharged from one of the outfalls."
Miller added that BEC recently ordered new containment booms to replace the ones that have been ineffective.
Dorsett suggested that once investigations are complete, "... No one is going to be off the hook when it comes to doing what is right, whether it is BEC or private stakeholders."

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