Although the Bahamas Petroleum Company (BPC) is set to deliver an environmental impact assessment (EIA) as early as this week, some members of the environmental community remain skeptical, and say it's a case of too little, too late.
According to Sam Duncombe, the director of reEarth (http://reearth.org), a full EIA should have been completed before seismic testing began in 2010.
Now, she said, damage may have already been done.
"As far as I know they are not obligated by law, but any person in oil and gas would know seismic testing can cause a lot of problems for ocean life," Duncombe said, who founded the Bahamian watch group in 1990.
"The reality is, if they were really concerned about the Bahamian environment, they would have done an EIA before they did any testing."
Seismic testing, intended to discover whether oil lurks under the sea floor, first began in 2010 by BPC. Three dimensional seismic testing, which sends signals and waves capable of providing a higher level of detail, started this year.
Roberta Quant, an environmental scientist working on behalf of BPC, holds two degrees in Ocean Engineering and another in Environmental Engineering.
She said the company is following international guidelines. "We are not required by law to do a study before or during seismic testing," Quant added. "We took precautions that followed best practices around the world."
Minister of the Environment, Earl Deveaux, agrees that seismic testing will not have an effect on ocean life.
"The fish didn't even know it was taking place," he said.  "The argument [that] it has been destructive is faulty."
In September, BPC will release their findings from an EIA done in conjunction with Acorn International, a company that delivers environmental and sustainability consulting for international industries and investors.
The government has hired third party, Black & Veatch Corporation, to review BPC's results and form their own conclusions.
Paul Gucwa, the chief operating officer for BPC, pointed out Acorn International has performed EIAs for major oil and gas companies worldwide.  The EIA due next month, he said, will go a long way to determining whether drilling poses an environmental risk.  "We are mindful it needs to be done and we're proceeding," Gucwa said.
He added that the University of Miami is also involved in determining what risks or problems could result from a possible oil spill.
This month, Gucwa said Earl Deveaux, Minister of the Environment, was "absolutely right" about his concerns regarding drilling.
The statement followed the resignation of Paul Crevello, the former CEO of BPC.  The oil company is expected to announce their new CEO in the next few weeks.  BPC has five existing oil exploration licenses and these agreements expire in April 2012.
But despite the EIA and government involvement, Duncombe said the damage possibly caused by seismic testing has not been addressed.
The noise level caused by these tests, she contends, cause significant disruption to various forms of marine life, including whales, dolphins and tuna.  "When they shoot that noise down to the seabed, they are creating waves and signals that can kill whales and dolphins," she said.  "It rips their ear drums and once that happens, they can stray and die."
Duncombe offered a variety of other problems associated with seismic tests.  It could affect fishing by disrupting the pattern and behavior of fish, increase stress hormones in some species and may cause whales and dolphins to veer off away from these Bahamian waters.  "These are huge implications," she added.
"So for them to turn around and say they agree on the possible environmental impact from drilling, they don't realize half of the problem is the seismic testing."
Neil McKinney, the president of the Bahamas National Trust, agreed there are concerns regarding seismic testing, but said more information needs to be gathered to know if it truly has any environmental implications.  "I don't know if any of us would have any expertise in terms of seismic waves or how you read them," he said.
The main concern, he said, would be that the data is made public and the people have a clear idea of what the government plan is going forward.  In other words, people should be aware of what's included in the upcoming EIA.
"Throw it open for public discussion," he said.
"People who have something to say will have a forum to present their views.  The people need to have an idea of what is going on and what the governments plan is.

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