"Having a relationship in the energy sector which is becoming so critical, I think, can only work to the benefit of The Bahamas," said Dr. Brent Hardt, Deputy Chief of Mission, who was the guest on "Jones and Company", a Love 97 Sunday programme.
"There would be a steady flow of resources to the government that can be used for a variety of good purposes, from education to police or whatever the needs are. Contrary to a lot of the things that you see in the paper – the talk about extraordinary dangers and so forth – the plant that will be out there, which is a regasification facility, is a very safe part of the process and I don't think presents extraordinary environmental risks."
Pointing to a recent cruise ship oil spill in Nassau Harbour last week, Dr. Hardt said, however, that every economic activity presents environmental risks.
"Having six cruise ships tied up here can lead to problems; having oil being delivered off your shore creates environmental risks. So, every country has to weigh these risks and [determine whether] the economic benefit is worth the potential risk, but I think the people who are looking to invest have met all the environmental requirements."
Last month, Attorney General Allyson Maynard-Gibson confirmed to The Bahama Journal that the government was negotiating a heads of agreement with the Virginia-based AES Corporation, which has secured approval to build an LNG regasification plant on Ocean Cay, near Bimini, and run a pipeline to Florida to meet that state's growing demand for energy.
Her disclosure re-ignited the LNG debate with opponents continuing to insist that The Bahamas should not be "a gas station" for the United States, and pointing to what they see as tremendous environmental risks.
Last week, Sam Duncombe of the local environmental group Re-earth, issued her latest statement warning against the risks she insists are associated with LNG plants.
"To date the voice of the Bahamian people has not been canvassed, included, or analyzed with regards to LNG," Ms. Duncombe said.
"The voice of the people has not been welcome in the process of approving LNG. The voice of the people has not been listened to regarding safety or environmental issues to do with LNG and this lays bare the lack of respect for a democratic society by all political parties in The Bahamas."
The statement said, "We also have to wonder if any political party has bothered to review the US documentation proving LNG to be a considerable risk and not one that they are willing to take in many of their homeland states?"
But when he appeared on "Jones and Company" last month, former Minister of Trade and Industry Leslie Miller, who is now the Minister of Agriculture and Marine Resources again addressed concerns that Ms. Duncombe and others continue to raise regarding LNG projects.
Minister Miller said he does not think the government would ever be able to satisfy the so-called concerns of people who are just opposed to industrialization.
"I call them arm-chair environmentalists," he said, "not in a derogatory manner, but in the sense that the Government of The Bahamas went out and got the best available companies that do EIAs in the world. There are about five of them and three of those companies have worked on [the AES] project."
Minister Miller said the companies have advised that it is feasible to have an LNG regasification terminal operating in The Bahamas in a safe and sustainable manner that would not adversely affect the environment. He stressed that this determination was "a scientific fact."
He stressed again that LNG would diversify the economy and said it has also gotten the stamp of approval from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
Initially, the AES LNG project is expected to create 650 jobs, according to Minister Miller, who said 400 of those jobs would be reserved for Bahamians, and the other 250 for foreign experts.
By: Candia Dames, The Bahama Journal
