By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Chief Reporter

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

RUBIS Bahamas officials did not investigate concerns over the fuel leak at its Robinson and Old Trail Roads service station for more than a month, according to the former station operator.

In its defence to litigation filed by Cable Bahamas, former station operator Fiorente Management and Investments Ltd charged that it “begged/beseeched” to investigate because the station was sustaining substantial losses.

It added that Rubis Bahamas Ltd “failed to act diligently” in accordance with its lease agreement, which specified that station equipment only be maintained or repaired by Rubis.

“In the premises,” the writ read, “[Fiorente Management] says that the only thing they could do in all the circumstance was alert [Rubis Bahamas] when they recognised that they were losing money, carry out their own limited investigation to identify whether there was any theft of product taking place or errors in delivery of fuel, and double check their readings and accounts.”

It continued: “Despite [Fiorente Management] cries for help and assistance to identify where the loss was taking place, [Rubis Bahamas] delayed in lending any form of assistance and delayed in coming to the fuel station to open the fuel storage tanks with the keys, solely in their possession, to inspect same for over a month.”

Cable Bahamas is suing Rubis and Fiorente Management for up to $15m in damages, alleging that their “negligence” resulted in its property, mainly its Customer Service Building, being contaminated by the gasoline leak.

It was alleged that the hazardous vapours from the leak had forced 43 staff to seek medical treatment before its customer service building was closed in January 2013, and one staff member had not fully recovered from serious health issues.

In addition to remuneration for a potential clean up or construction of a new centre, the communications operator is also seeking to recover costs and revenue loss associated with having to move its customer service operations and marketing arms to the Mall at Marathon and East Street respectively as a result of the gas leak. Cable Bahamas is also seeking an injunction to close the gas station on the grounds that it is unsafe. The station was reopened in July, with Rubis Bahama stating that it had taken “all the necessary steps to address the remediation of the spill”.

Fiorente Management was named as the second defendant in the amended writ filed in Supreme Court by Cable Bahamas in July; Rubis Bahamas acquired the station, along with all Chevron (Texaco) assets in the Bahamas in 2012, and is named as the first defendant.

Fiorente Management entered into a lease agreement with Rubis Bahamas on November 9, 2012, and, according to the writ, the lease agreement was terminated after the leak was discovered on January 21, 2013.

The defence was filed in the Supreme Court on September 16 by Fiorente Management’s attorneys, Meridian Law Chambers.

Fiorente Management explained that it did not inform Cable Bahamas that the station was experiencing a gas leak because it was instructed by Rubis Bahamas marketing manager Bryon Ferguson not to disclose information, and to direct all inquiries to the corporation’s head office.

In its defence to the writ, the former operator admits that the escape of gasoline and hydrocarbon vapours into Cable Bahamas’ property was caused by corrosion in the pipework at Dispenser 5.

It was also confirmed that approximately 20,000 to 30,000 gallons had been discharged, adding that the figure was based on fuel output analyses conducted by station’s accountant following the discovery of the gas leak.

Fiorente Management claimed that while it was required by the lease agreement to conduct weekly monitoring for possible leakage, it was never provided with the keys to storage tanks despite repeated requests.

According to documents, it was further discovered that the leak detector installed at the fuel storage tank in 2012 did not work, and monitoring software was corrupted and unreliable.

At an undefined time during operation of the station, Fiorente Management claims that it was discovered that the conversion chart provided by Chevron, and adopted by Rubis Bahamas, was different from the fuel truck driver’s conversion chart.

According to the writ, it was unclear which chart was correct to use for the storage tanks, and despite challenges with such an inconsistency, the matter was never clarified by Rubis.

Meanwhile, Marathon residents still claim they have received no information from the government about remediation plans for the area, or the results of initial tests conducted to determine their level of exposure. It was further alleged that no health assessments have been conducted on residents in the area to date.