The Government of The Bahamas has decided to put on hold any immediate decisions as it relates to the liquefied natural gas projects being proposed for The Bahamas, The Bahama Journal has learnt.
Government sources recently indicated that the ongoing controversy surrounding the proposals could mean that a decision on the matter could take many more months, even though The Bahamas Environment Science and Technology Commission has already approved the AES project being proposed for Ocean Cay, near Bimini.
Earlier this year, the government appeared poised to approve the AES project with Prime Minister Perry Christie even going as far as saying on a local radio talk show that the Virginia-based AES Corporation was highly likely to receive final approval from the government by the end of January.
But four months later, company officials are still waiting for the green light, as the local environmental group, ReEarth, intensifies its opposition to such projects.
In March, Prime Minister Perry Christie told reporters that the government delayed a decision on LNG because it wanted to hear the concerns being raised by residents of Cat Cay, near Ocean Cay.
Even though it has not yet been reported, just before falling ill earlier this month, Mr. Christie conceded in an interview with The Bahama Journal that he had spoken prematurely when he said at the beginning of the year that AES would have received approval by the end of January.
“Firstly, let me say that I was premature when I indicated that I thought we would have approved [the AES project] by January,” he said at the time. “Since then, I’ve received petitions with Bahamian signatures and I thought most certainly out of respect for the views of those Bahamians who have expressed themselves in that form, I ought to give them the opportunity to be heard.
“Listening myself to the presentations on LNG, I thought it important for as many Bahamians as possible to have the same presentation made to them-so that our education can be complete. I have no difficulty whatsoever in being able to accept that Bahamians have a particularly strong feeling on any subject matter, to respect that feeling by making a judgment as to whether or nor we proceed.
“We will make every effort to ensure that Bahamians know the facts and are able to base their decisions on the facts. The BEST Commission has determined that the AES proposal where situated at Ocean Cay is a viable, environmentally speaking, proposal.
“The Government of The Bahamas has to make a judgment as to whether or not a decision for them to commence, that is the full approval, will be in fact broadly acceptable to our people, and not result in bitter division as could develop over certain circumstances as we saw with Clifton.”
Weeks after Prime Minister Christie made those comments, ReEarth officials continue a sustained campaign against LNG, clashing at various points with Minister of Trade and Industry Leslie Miller, who insisted only this past week that the government will make no decision that would be detrimental to the interests of Bahamians.
He reiterated the words last Wednesday, as ReEarth held a small demonstration in Rawson Square, demanding that the government reject the AES proposal and the proposal being pushed by Tractebel, El Paso and Florida Power and Light, which is eyeing a site in Grand Bahama for an LNG terminal.
The plan is to ship LNG to Florida to meet that state’s growing demand for energy. Having had its initial site reject, the group of companies seeking to build an LNG terminal at South Riding Point, Grand Bahama, appears even farther away than AES in getting approval from The Bahamas government for the project.
One government official involved in negotiations with AES on its proposal, said that the company appeared a long way off from convincing the government to grant it final approval and some government officials do not want to risk the political fallout that could come with giving the controversial project the go-ahead.
AES officials, meanwhile, have insisted that, contrary to what opponents keep saying, their project would not be environmentally harmful and would not become a terrorist target.
According to its website, AES Ocean LNG, Ltd. proposes to construct, own and operate an advanced energy services center located on Ocean Cay. The AES Ocean LNG, Ltd. project at Ocean Cay has been developed to include a Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) import terminal and ancillary facilities.
Ancillary facilities include a Liquefied Petroleum Gas removal plant, a seawater desalination plant, an undersea pipeline to supply potable water from Ocean Cay to North Bimini (designated as AES Cay Express Pipeline), as well as Ocean Cay employee housing and associated facilities on South Bimini, and an undersea natural gas supply pipeline (designated as the AES Ocean Cay Pipeline) to the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) boundary.
The Ocean Cay Pipeline will interconnect at the EEZ boundary with an undersea natural gas pipeline extending to delivery points in Broward County, Florida (Ocean Express Pipeline). The Ocean Express Pipeline will be constructed and operated by AES Ocean Express LLC, a U.S. affiliate of AES Ocean LNG, Ltd.
By: Candia Dames, The Bahama Journal
