Soil and water samples taken from a trench in front of the Shell Service Station on East Bay Street were contaminated with gasoline and diesel oil, it was confirmed yesterday.
Parliamentary secretary at the Ministry of Health Ron Pinder said Sunday that the extent of the contamination was still not known, but Shell Bahamas now had the responsibility of cleaning the site.
Subsequent leak tests conducted on the fuel pipelines and the tank system by Shell Bahamas revealed that there were no existing leaks at the service station.
“(The most recent findings) would indicate a past leak,” said Mr. Pinder during a press conference.
The samples were taken on August 7 after workers sent to fix a sewer problem smelled gasoline and reported the issue to the Department of Environmental Health.
Luther Smith, engineering and project manager at Shell Bahamas; and Thomas Desmangles, safety adviser at Shell were both at yesterday’s press conference and said the company immediately stepped in the minimise the damage.
They both noted that Shell Bahamas takes proactive steps to ensure their products do not leak into the environment and that there is no contamination.
Mr. Smith said it was difficult to say how the site would be cleared until the extent of the contamination is determined. The cost and length of time to excavate the oil will also have to discovered.
But whatever the method, he assured the public that the site would be cleared according to local and international standards.
According to Mr. Pinder, the extraction of oil can be a very lengthy and very expensive process, as high as hundreds of thousands of dollars in severe cases.
He noted that as a result of the incident, the Environmental Monitoring Risk and Assessment Division of the Department of HEalth would step up its monitoring efforts of all facilities with underground fuel tanks.
Shell has already updated at least five of its stations at a cost of more than $1 million each.
Source: Cara Brennen, The Tribune
