Former Minister of State for the Environment Phenton Neymour sharply criticized the Christie administration for its response to a reported leak at Rubis’ Sandyport service station, stating yesterday that the administration needs to do more to hold the fuel industry to government standards.

Speaking with Guardian Business, Neymour commented on the government’s muted response to a reported leak at the site earlier this month. Neymour, whose responsibilities within the ministry previously included managing relationships with the largest petroleum companies in The Bahamas, said that he had independently visited the site and found evidence of “some contamination in that area,” which he expected had gone on for some time.

“I question the government’s performance because the government should have known by now whether there was a leak or what is necessary to mitigate the exposure if there was a leak and that has not been done.

“I question all of the secrecy because at the end of the day we’re confident that the government did not cause any leak…So why would the government not want to disclose to its citizens, who it has a mandate to protect? That is my concern at this particular time,” said Neymour.

Minister of the Environment Kenred Dorsett earlier stated that representatives from the Environmental Remediation and Response Laboratory (EMRAD) and the Ministry of Works’ Volatile Substance Unit had conducted an assessment on the facility.

Sandyport Development Company President and Director Garth Buckner previously told Guardian Business that there was no indication that there had been a massive leak at the site, noting that Rubis had quickly closed an affected fuel line after a resident spotted seepage out of Rubis bulkhead.

Gordon Craig, Rubis Caribbean’s managing director for The Bahamas and Turks and Caicos Islands, told Guardian Business last week that the company had immediately responded to reports of heavy fumes and leaks at the facility from Sandyport business tenets and residents but denied reports of large fuel spillages.

When asked whether the government had handled the investigation and reporting of the alleged incident, Neymour stated:

“I think the issues of spills at Marathon and at Sandy Port could be excellent case studies in academic environments as to what to do and what not to do, because there have been some decisions made that I think have not helped this private organization going forward from a public relations standpoint.

“To not disclose the truth is to the detriment of us all and so I think it is important that it be disclosed if there were a spill, and disclosed in a timely matter,” said Neymour.

Silence
The government has yet to deliver an anticipated incident report from the Department of Environmental Health Services (DEHS) or provide any further updates on the reported leak.

That silence yesterday spurred environmental attorney Romauld Ferreira to speak out against the government’s secrecy surrounding both the reported Sandyport incident and the lingering health concerns surrounding Rubis’ well-publicized fuel leak at its Marathon station in late 2012/early 2013.

“Unless you get the results of those tests, then how much credibility can you put into the words of a government that’s represented by the ultimate statement that ‘we aim to keep our job and so we’re keeping information from you.’ That’s the reality of what you’re facing,” he said.

Ferreira, a director of environmental advocacy group Save the Bays (STB), reiterated the group’s call for an independent evaluation of the Sandyport site to determine a course of action for remediation and education for those possibly affected. He spoke with NB12.

“It comes down to this: Bahamians have a right to know what’s in their drinking water and they have a right to know what’s in their oceans, what they’re swimming in, these are basic rights recognized by any government. These are basic human rights, actually, basic environmental rights. This is why Save the Bays has called for an independent investigation,” said Ferreira.

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