Fitzgerald urges residents to sue Rubis over spill

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

By RICARDO WELLS

Tribune Staff Reporter

rwells@tribunemedia.net

ALTHOUGH he has been criticised for being silent about an underground fuel leak in his constituency, Marathon MP Jerome Fitzgerald yesterday said he has growing concern over the issues coming out of the matter, insisting that residents should take court action.

Mr Fitzgerald claimed that following the submission of a Black & Veatch International report to the government, he attempted, “on various occasions to bring Rubis to the table” to settle matters surrounding the issue.

He added that on these matters, “particularly the ones which are justifiable and quantifiable in regard to the quantity of compensation for the Marathon residents impacted, Rubis has found it fit not to respond to me.”

Mr Fitzgerald said that he has notified and “encouraged” all of the residents in his constituency that were “inconvenienced” by the fuel leak, which was first noticed in December 2012, to seek legal action against the Rubis and former operator, Fiorente Management.

The BVI report was completed February 20, 2014, but it was only released after public outcry at a town meeting on Thursday, despite numerous requests from the media for the document.

The report confirmed that residents were exposed to elevated levels of benzene, a cancer-causing compound in gasoline. The chemical was found in a residential well in May 2013; but the report ultimately concluded that assessments conducted by Rubis were insufficient and could not be used to determine whether residential and commercial building occupants were exposed to contamination associated with the fuel release.

Marathon residents earlier this year criticised Mr Fitzgerald for his handling of the ordeal, with some claiming that their pleas to him fell on deaf ears.

In January, Grand Bahama Human Rights Association Vice-President Joseph Darville called on the Marathon MP to “break his silence” over the underground gas spill.

Mr Darville said at the time: “So far, the government has done little but give lip service to caring about the health of these citizens and the integrity of their property, but the Christie administration has not lifted a finger to actually help them.

“Years have passed without a word from Mr Fitzgerald, and no confirmation that the spill has been properly cleaned up. Where is Jerome Fitzgerald? The Marathon MP and minister of education, who has continually asserted his care and concern for the next generation, must know that there are many children in the area who have been exposed to the toxic fumes and other extremely harmful substances as a result of this leak.

“There have been no health screenings of residents,” Mr Darville added, “despite the fact that gasoline is known to cause a host of aggressive illnesses, including many forms of cancer.”

Earlier this month The Tribune revealed that, according to court documents, Rubis had offered one Marathon family $24,000 to give their home a “face lift” and asked to release and indemnify the company following the 2012 underground gas spill at the service station at Robinson and Old Trail Roads.

Mr Fitzgerald said the delay in making the Black and Veatch International report public was due to the attorney general not authorising its release.

He said: “I am not going to question the attorney general’s reasons and rationale for making that decision. I have confidence that the attorney general knew what she was doing and I support her decision in that regard.”

Comments

John says...

Persons in Marathon would actually weaken their case against Rubis by making the Government of the Bahamas a defendant in the lawsuit. The government has already admitted that it is is getting little or no cooperation from Rubis it did take the initiative to have tests done in the area to determine the extent of the leak. Residential also had reasonable to know that something was wrong at the service station as it was boarded up and pump truck after pump truck truck could be seen leaving the site over a period of many months. The relocation of Cable Bahamas to the mall was also a clear indication that sometiing was untoward. Besides the residents of Marathon being aggrieved the question is where did Rubis dump all the fuel they recovered? Did they just move the contamination from one area of the island and dump it somewhere else, causing more contamination and putting more persons health at risk?

Posted 22 April 2015, 2:43 p.m. Suggest removal

duppyVAT says...

Boycott Rubis!!!!!!!!!!! Then they will close and be gone ................ Not showing good corporate responsibility ..................... just like the government and CLICO

Posted 22 April 2015, 3:25 p.m. Suggest removal

Sickened says...

Based on Mr. Fitzgerald's comments I expect to see him out at the RABL rally this Saturday (Parliament square) urging the ten's of thousands of Bahamians who have been poisoned by the dump fires over the recent years, to sue the Government of The Bahamas and Renew (who took over management).

Posted 22 April 2015, 3:43 p.m. Suggest removal

But let us remind ourselves of how senator Fitzgerald was a champion of the environment before 2012 ............. Saunders Beach and the Exuma cays were his pet projects to beat up the FNM ............ now he is the MP of a constituency that his colleagues and Cabinet have done everything to hide the truth (fuel spill) from the Marathon residents.

He does not deserve a second term ................ he is not an honourable man

Posted 22 April 2015, 3:47 p.m. Suggest removal

Rubis is a multi-billon dollar, international company, based in France, that not only should have the financial means to compensate those affected by the gas leak, but also the experience and ability to clean up the mess.

Posted 22 April 2015, 3:54 p.m. Suggest removal

Snake and FOCOL are licking their chops right now .................... BOL

Posted 22 April 2015, 3:56 p.m. Suggest removal

ThisIsOurs says...

Why was Texaco allowed to pack up and leave?

Posted 22 April 2015, 4:05 p.m. Suggest removal

B_I_D___ says...

They did not pack up and leave...they were bought out...

http://www.tribune242.com/news/2013/sep…

Posted 22 April 2015, 6:52 p.m. Suggest removal

Yeah I know but I'm wondering if Rubis is "really" liable for the spill. I mean in terms of legal loopholes, Can they claim in court that Texaco knew about the leak but failed to disclose the full extent? I'm almost certain neither company has any idea when the spill actually started. It could have started as a slow leak months before they discovered it, only noticing when half their inventory started going missing. In that vein I'm wondering why Texaco was allowed to leave. Could BP have sold their operations in the US and departed after their oil spill? I'm also confused as to why Rubis would jump into this hornets nest...what assurances were they given

Posted 22 April 2015, 7:22 p.m. Suggest removal

Service stations have a means of determining when a tank springs a leak be monitoring the amount of water that collects in the tank as well as the amount of fuel that is losses from that tank. They can also determine how long the leak was going on by how far the fuel has seeped into the ground and water table away from the leak. In this case there is little doubt that the leak existed while the service station was being operated. Texaco's livability, if any, will be determined by the terms and conditions of the purchase agreement between itself and Rubis. One would presume that Rubis did inspections of the various properties and had its experts conduct the necessary surveys. Normally the buyer would assume all risks at the completion of a sale or after a specified period. But again specific conditions may apply.

Posted 22 April 2015, 7:41 p.m. Suggest removal

sansoucireader says...

If this started when the station was TEXACO, Tribune please do some real investigative journalism and discover who were the operators/owners then. Were they also owners of other businesses, and not really paying attention to what was going on at this Robinson Road station? someone was not paying attention, and why weren't they?

Posted 22 April 2015, 8:52 p.m. Suggest removal

Heard today that they reported the problem when half their holding tanks started going missing, that they thought someone might have been stealing the gas. Can you go one day from a situation where no gas is leaking to the next day when half the tank is missing? Just asking the question, it just makes sense to me that it would start as a slow leak (that maybe noone pays attention to) and then gets worse...

As to them knowing how long the leak was going on by how far the gas seeped I'd like to hear them answer definitively whether they can say the spill started at a particular date and not before.

Posted 22 April 2015, 9:26 p.m. Suggest removal

That gas Station is not that old. It is one of the last that Texaco built. Once holes develop in the tank the low tide acts like a siphon and draws the fuel out the tank. So it is possible to lose a lot of fuel in a short time

Posted 22 April 2015, 10:01 p.m. Suggest removal

Heard yesterday that those holding tanks were at end of life

Posted 23 April 2015, 6:41 a.m. Suggest removal

Chucky says...

Time we take the law into our own hands, we hold the power! Lets Boycott and picket every Rubis, don't buy a single thing from them until the full details are released and all the problems solved! We can cost them millions by doing this, they'll close their doors within a week if we boycott them. Let Rubis owners know what pain is!

Posted 30 April 2015, 1:30 p.m. Suggest removal