Rubis Managing Director Gordon Craig said yesterday the company will do and spend whatever it takes to clean up a gas leak that happened at its Robinson Road service station over two years ago. But Craig said Rubis has no intention of making public a report it received from ARCADIS on the spill, nor would he say if Rubis intends to meet with concerned residents of Marathon.

The spill occurred in late 2012/early 2013, according to a report by Black & Veatch, which was engaged by the government. The government received the Black & Veatch report in February 2014, but only made it public on April 17, 2015, a day after angry residents expressed their disapproval at a town meeting.

"There are only five premises in the Marathon area that are affected by the plume area," said Craig, who was a guest on the Star 106.5 radio show "Jeffrey" with host Jeff Lloyd.

"That is very important to understand because a lot of people have been indicating as if almost the whole of New Providence has an issue.

"The science and the testing, which has been ongoing for the last two and a half years, shows that the plume is concentrated predominately on four properties just north on the other side of the road [of the gas station] and one adjacent to us -- so that's five properties.

"Outside of that the testing in the wells that is ongoing, which shows that there is no issue, no contamination, there is no risk to public health outside of that area."

Rubis said it engaged ARCADIS, an international consulting firm, days after the spill was discovered on January 19, 2013.
ARCADIS Principal Engineer/Vice President Jorge Ramirez was also a guest on the show.

"We are here to give facts and be open," Craig continued. "We are here today. We have released data. We have no desire and no reason not to be completely open.

"We have submitted this data to the government. How the government acts, I can't comment or speculate or give an opinion on what the government should or shouldn't do.

"We want to present the facts because there is an awful lot of speculation, guesswork and from Rubis' point of view we know what we are doing. From day one we were working hard and we have spent several million dollars. We intend to spend whatever it takes to get this job done.

"As a company our culture is one of health and safety and it is absolutely [of] primary importance that we sort this out."

Scores of concerned Marathon residents who came to a town meeting Monday night feared that the spill would affect their homes.

The Black & Veatch report concluded that residents who live and work near the gas station were exposed to chemicals that could create health risks.

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