The Bahamas government will pay careful attention to AES Corporation’s record, and that of any other company, while considering whether to allow those companies to construct liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities in The Bahamas, according to Attorney General Allyson Maynard-Gibson.
Mrs. Maynard-Gibson stopped short, however, of saying that the fact that AES Corporation has been sued by the government of the Dominican Republic for allegedly damaging the environment would automatically preclude AESﾒs LNG proposal from being considered.
“I wouldnﾒt want to comment on that,” Mrs. Maynard-Gibson said.
“That would be something for the BEST (Bahamas Environmental Science and Technology) Commission to advise the government on, having considered what has happened in these other jurisdictions.”
The government of the Dominican Republic filed a final, updated complaint against AES Corporation recently in Virginia district court, seeking “compensatory damages for physical, mental and economic injuries.”
The basic allegations of the lawsuit are that between late 2003 and early 2004, AES ﾖ through its subsidiaries ﾖ conspired to dump nearly 60,000 tons of industrial waste on pristine beaches in the DR, damaging the environment, destroying the regional tourism product, and causing bodily harm to some residents of the areas.
The suit also seeks “punitive damages in an amount sufficient to punish defendants and to deter them from engaging in similar unauthorized dumping in other developing countries,” among other damages.
Dr. Bart Fisher, the lawyer hired by the DR government, told the Journal that there are no figures in the “damages” section because his plan is to “see what damages [we] can prove to the court.”
The government is now conducting a study in the Dominican Republic in an attempt to prove the three types of damage ﾖ physical, mental and economic ﾖ and, according to Dr. Fisher, the $80 million figure previously given was “a minimum in any event.”
“At this point,” Dr. Fisher said, “[the amount of damages we will get] is what we can prove to the court. If the damages come back $200 million [thatﾒs what it is].”
There are seven counts in the lawsuit, including violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, Conspiracy to violate RICO, conspiracy to violate laws prohibiting bribery and regulating waste disposal, aiding and abetting the violation of those laws and creation of nuisance among others.
The suit names the AES Corporation (the Virginia-based parent company) and three wholly-owned AES subsidiaries of the AES Corporation ﾖ AES Aggregate Services, AES Puerto Rico and AES Atlantis ﾖ along with Silverspot Enterprises and its CEO, Florida businessman Roger Charles Fina, as defendants in the lawsuit.
Mr. Fina was just days ago sued in US District Court in Miami by 10 foreign workers, claiming he took them to the US with promises of jobs and ended up forcing them to toil like slaves at a sand quarry in Florida.
The DRﾒs lawyer is not surprised.
“AES has got to understand ﾖ when you lie down with dogs, youﾒll get fleas,” Dr. Fisher said.
The maxim holds true for The Bahamas as well, as acknowledged by Attorney General Maynard-Gibson.
“As the government drafts its heads of agreements with AES, or any other party with whom the government agrees there should be an LNG project, the government will clearly take into account what has happened in respect of these companies in other jurisdictions,” the attorney general said.
“And if the government decides to proceed with any of these companies, the government will ensure that in the heads of agreement, the kinds of actions or complaints that would have happened in other jurisdictions would be adequately addressed, and remedies provided for in the heads of agreement.”
Mrs. Maynard-Gibson pointed out that the government has agreed to “follow the decision of the previous administration” to allow LNG as a part of the Bahamian economy in principle. Given this, the appropriate regulatory regime must be put in place, she said.
“This is something that we will be working onﾅwith other countries around the world who can assist us in setting up a regulatory regime, monitoring a regulatory regime and initiating prosecutionsﾅas the result of breaches of the regulatory regime,” she said.
By: Quincy Parker, The Bahama Journal
