Oil threat for Bahamas 'not over'
By ALISON LOWE
Tribune Staff Reporter
alowe@tribunemedia.net:
A lead co-ordinator in the government's Gulf oil spill response team says that despite British Petroleum's success in stopping the oil gushing from the damaged well "the threat is not over" as far as the Bahamas is concerned.
Director of the National Emergency Management Agency, Captain Stephen Russell, who heads the National Oil Spill Contingency Committee, said the group has submitted a plan to continue monitoring any potential impact from the oil spill until the end of the year, at the earliest.
"We haven't slackened, we are keeping our eye on it," said Mr Russell yesterday morning. He noted that a team of experts set off on a second exploratory mission from Nassau to the Cay Sal Bank in the Bahama Banks on Monday, to continue taking samples and checking for any tar balls in Bahamian waters.
The team of scientists and environmentalists was scheduled to arrive in Cay Sal yesterday afternoon to begin their investigations.
Their visit comes just under a week after BP announced that after 85 days and the release of up to 184 million gallons of oil into the marine environment, it had successfully capped the leaking well, stopping the flow of crude.
Officials were cautious in their response to the news last Thursday that the placement of a 75-ton cap had successfully halted the flow of oil. US president Barack Obama called the development a "positive sign" but added, "We're still in the testing phase."
In the last few days some oil and gas has been detected around the well, raising concerns that the cap may not be withstanding the pressure from the oil within the well.
Hope
However, officials have expressed hope that the cap can largely contain the oil until relief wells are drilled which are expected to provide a permanent fix.
So far, no evidence of oil having reached Bahamian waters has been found. The spill has been accumulating in the Gulf of Mexico and along the southern coast of the United States since April 22, after the destruction of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig following an explosion at the site.
The oil rig was leased to British energy company BP at the time of the incident and the company has promised to pay legitimate claims for compensation stemming from the extensive damage that is resulting from the oil being released into the environment.
Mr Russell told The Tribune that officials in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Attorney General's Office continue to pursue the possibility of seeking compensation from the company for the Bahamas to cover the cost of efforts already undertaken by the government's Oil Spill Contingency Committee in response to the spill.
"It has been discussed at two levels locally, and at the CARICOM level, so we will see. We'll allow Foreign Affairs and the AG's office to see how we can engage BP either through the British Foreign Office or the US office. Likewise, we'll see CARICOM's approach," said Capt Russell.
July 21, 2010
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