Prime Minister Perry Christie made it clear on Monday that despite reports that the government was negotiating a heads of agreement for a liquefied natural gas project in The Bahamas, no such signing will take place until proper regulations are in place to government such an industry.
Prime Minister Christie spoke to The Bahama Journal following a brief tree planting marking the 5th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks in the United States, in which nearly 3,000 persons from over 90 countries were killed.
The ceremony took place at the U.S. ambassadorﾒs to residence on Sanford Drive in New Providence.
According to the prime minister, preparing regulations for the LNG industry would ensure that Bahamians have a full appreciation of how such an industry would be regulated.
“We are at the stage where we have instructed the attorney general [Allyson Maynard-Gibson] along with the relevant ministers ﾖ Ministers Leslie Miller and Dr. Marcus Bethel ﾖ to ensure that the manner in which the industry will be regulated, the extent to which it will be regulated, is in fact now prepared,” Mr. Christie said.
“We are now well aware that some companies will reserve the option to say that they cannot exist in such a highly regulated environment and that before we can properly sign off on the matter, we want to ﾖ in fairness to ourselves, to those who support us and most certainly investors ﾖ be able to show the extent to which we insist on regulating this industry in the interest of people on Cat Cay and others.”
Recently, Attorney General Maynard-Gibson revealed that the government was negotiating a heads of agreement with the Virginia-based AES Corporation to construct an LNG plant on Ocean Cay in the Northern Bahamas and run an LNG pipeline to Florida to meet that stateﾒs growing demand for energy.
Former Trade and Industry Minister Leslie Miller has also assured that all safeguards would be in place.
Minister Miller has been a strong proponent of LNG as he continues to stress the need for The Bahamas to diversify its economy.
According to the minister, initially, the AES LNG project is expected to create 650 jobs, 400 of which would be reserved for Bahamians, while the remaining 250 for foreign experts.
But residents of the Cat Cay Club, near Ocean Cay, remain deeply concerned over the fact that the government is negotiating an LNG contract.
Cat Cay Club President Lance Mortenson has urged the government not to “sell out”.
In a recent interview with the Journal, Mr. Mortenson said if a deal were ever made for LNG, the government should “certainly with great respect” reanalyze what really is the payment that The Bahamas is receiving versus what the end result might be to the country as a whole.
Officials of the club maintain that the issue should be put to a referendum for Bahamians to decide whether it is the correct thing to do.
But as far as the prime minister is concerned, if the clubﾒs members are American second-home owners, their views should first be made known to U.S. Ambassador to The Bahamas John Rood.
“Obviously, those Bahamians who work there have a right to call for whatever they wish, but I would have thought that the permanent residents ﾖ who have always been welcomed in the country ﾖ that they would have approached the American ambassador ﾖ if they are from his country ﾖ before making a national call for a referendum,” the prime minister said.
“And so there is always a difficulty when the right processes should be followedﾅWe have taken a long time on this ﾖ some think too long on this. But we have consulted the United States government. I have met with the Secretary of Energy on the matter. We have had Florida Governor Jeb Bush come to The Bahamas to discuss the matter and met with the U.S. Ambassador and so it has been addressed very significantly, and so I would advise the people of Cat Cay to consult with the ambassador.”
Ambassador Rood supported the prime ministerﾒs perspective on the issue.
“I have always maintained that this is an issue for Bahamians to decide. We have our interests, but we also respect the right of The Bahamas to decide on this,” the ambassador said.
“And I think no one ever thinks that we are pressuring them one way or the other on this issue. Itﾒs their decision, and so I do agree that if Americans are calling on the government to do something, it may be helpful if they sat down with me and explained their positions, so that I could take that directly to the Bahamas government.”
By: Macushla N. Pinder, The Bahama Journal
