The roughly 3,000 gallons of lubricating oil that spilled onto the ground near the roundabout that connects West Bay Street and Prospect Ridge last Friday did not seep into the water table, so says Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Energy and Environment Ron Pinder.
However, officials were still forced to divert vehicular traffic away from the area as a precaution.
The oil spill occurred when the driver of a fuel tanker contracted by the Bahamas Electricity Corporation (BEC) to transport the lubricant to its western power plant apparently lost control of the vehicle, which eventually rolled over and ended up on its side.
Mr. Pinder said yesterday he is “very pleased” with the clean up effort so far.
“We had a technical meeting (Monday) morning with the Department of Environmental Health, the Ministry of Works and Utilities and also the contracted company, Baychem,” he said.
“So far the investigations indicate that the lubricating oil did not reach the water table which is excellent. Therefore, it means that we have minimised the level of contamination. In addition to that we have excavated the contaminated soil and work is ongoing to replace the contaminated soil with clean soil so that the vegetation in the area will not be affected adversely.”
The parliamentary secretary said while the containment effort went well there were other challenges that prevented re-opening of the southern dual carriageway adjacent to Goodmanﾒs Bay.
In particular he said during the meeting yesterday it was decided that the roadway in the area should be replaced.
“We would have to remove the asphalt in the area that was affected by the oil spill and then re-surface that particular area,” Mr. Pinder said.
“That remediation work should take a week-and-a-half to two weeks.”
He said until that time the roundabout will be closed.
Mr. Pinder also reported that the northern roadway has been converted into a thoroughfare consisting of two single lanes of traffic travelling in opposite directions.
He asked members of the public to be patient as the repairs are made and them to exercise caution when travelling in the area.
By: Darrin Culmer, The Bahama Journal
