Opposition Leader Hubert Ingraham has dismissed the Attorney General Allyson Maynard Gibson as a credible source following her recent disclosure that the government would sign a Heads of Agreement this week for a liquefied natural gas plant in The Bahamas.
While he acknowledged that he was aware of the governmentﾒs plan, Mr. Ingraham said having served in the political arena for the past 30 years, this was the first time an Attorney General had made an announcement about such a project.
“This doesnﾒt happen. That is either made by the minister responsible or the Prime Minister,” Mr. Ingraham chided. “And so until I hear from a source I can rely on, I donﾒt want to comment any further.”
It was during an exclusive interview with the Bahama Journal last week that the Attorney General made the disclosure.
At the time, Minister Maynard-Gibson revealed that the Christie government has started negotiating a heads of agreement with the Virginia-based firm AES Corporation.
AES is hoping to construct an LNG regasification terminal on Ocean Cay, near Cat Cay and Bimini, and run an LNG pipeline on the ocean floor to South Florida to help meet that stateﾒs growing demand for energy.
But its plan has been delayed by strong objections raised by various interests, including environmentalists and wealthy Cat Cay residents who insist that the project would damage the environment, and even become a terrorist target.
But according to Mrs. Maynard-Gibson, the government is satisfied that it has adequately addressed such concerns.
Minister of Agriculture and Marine Resources Leslie Miller, the former trade and industry minister who still has responsibility for LNG, later revealed that the government would have signed an agreement with the AES Corporation on Tuesday.
“My government gave approval in principle for two LNG facilities subject to safety considerations and environmental considerations. We undertook for Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) to be done and safety standards and that if they came out acceptable that we would approve the project,” Mr. Ingraham said while addressing the press following a full tour of Kerzner Internationalﾒs Phase III development this week.
“We were kicked out of office before this could be done. We understand that these studies have been done. But we have not seen them.”
Mr. Ingraham was not the only one who chided the Attorney General for taking the lead in making the announcement.
In a press release, Sam Duncombe of the environmental lobby, reEarth made the very same observation.
She also questioned why Minister Miller is “apparently now refusing responsibility for the direction of the project and why both the Prime Minister and the Opposition have remained silent on the issue.
“Now the issue is nearing final decision, it would appear that the PLP would rather lay the blame, or the applause, for the LNG project at the feet of the FNM rather than stand by decisions implemented by their own house to approve or disapprove LNG,” she said.
“[Prime Minister] Perry Christie remains silent whilst his cabinet shuffles around the decisions, each refuting responsibility and publicly stating that it was the FNM that brought this matter about. Meanwhile we have the Opposition leader, Hubert Ingraham refusing to pass comment, until more information is released.”
Consequently, Mrs. Duncombe is now calling for a definitive position from the FNM on LNG.
“Are they for becoming Floridaﾒs gas station or against? Is the FNM willing to accept all the safety and environmental risks to appease our US neighbours, who have so far been unwilling to accept these risks themselves?” she asked.
“Is the FNM waiting to make a decisive comment after the project is approved and the horses are out of the gate? Donﾒt bother! What is also painfully clear is that neither of our political parties is learning to truly listen to the voice of the Bahamian people or to engage that voice.”
According to Mrs. Duncombe, ReEarth maintains that if the government is still seriously considering an approval of an LNG project in The Bahamas, then the matter should be put to a referendum and the Bahamian public should have the final decision, “once a competent public education programme has been put in place.”
By: Macushla N. Pinder, The Bahama Journal
