By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

GRAND Bahama Human Rights Association President Fred Smith said Environment Minister Kenred Dorsett and Environmental Health Director Melanie McKenzie should be held accountable for “negligence” after failing to protect the public’s interest following an underground fuel leak that left some residents potentially exposed to a cancer-causing agent.

Mr Smith also joined FNM members yesterday in calling for the resignation of several government officials for “withholding” an independent report on remediation efforts and chemical exposure that occurred following the 2012 Rubis gasoline leak. That report, which was finished last February, was not made public until this month.

Mr Smith was of the opinion that someone in government should be held accountable for “criminal negligence for breaking their statutory duties.”

He added: “They are passing the buck all over the place and trying to pull the wool all over the public’s eyes. We’re dealing with flesh and blood, human beings whose health and safety has been at risk for years and the parliamentary appointed minister and regulators have done absolutely nothing except scurry around in the shadows . . .”

To bolster his argument, Mr Smith discussed the duties of officials under the Environmental Health Services Act.

“Under Section A exists an obligation that the minister and the director take action in the face of problems to protect the public health, to regulate and control actual and likely contamination for pollution and they also have a responsibility to investigate and take preventive and remedial measures in respect of gaseous waste,” he said. “Under Section 20, the Act makes it an offence for the directors and managers of corporations to breach the Act. And so I ask, why, since 2012 and 2013 when this first came to the attention of the minister and the regulators charged by Parliament to protect the public’s health and safety did they not take swift action instead of simply sitting, twiddling their thumbs and waiting for the offender, Rubis, to do something?”

“This is not rocket science and it underscores the need for an Environmental Protection Act with teeth.”

He added: “The BEST Commission does not exist in law and both parties should stop fooling around and pretending that it has some public regulatory function. It’s a toothless tiger there for show and nothing else.”

Mr Smith said people asked the government to release the independent report for some time before it was made public.

“This coziness between politicians and the oil industry must end because people’s lives are at stake,” he added. “What bond or guarantee do the people and our government have that Rubis is going to take care of this? Is there any bond that has been set up with the oil companies before they operate? What happens if Rubis, being a foreign company, just walks away from this and leaves an environmental disaster in its wake? This gives me no confidence that the government is regulating any of the other gas stations in the Bahamas. Who is looking out for the safety and health of our citizenry?”

Last week, Mr Dorsett said the government was committed to introducing regulations that would govern the currently unregulated “downstream” petroleum sector. He also assured the public that all of the recommendations contained in a Black and Veatch International report in reference to the underground fuel leak at Rubis’ Robinson Road gas station had been directed to the company.

Rubis, in a statement on Tuesday, said that it had taken all of the “necessary and possible actions” to remediate the affected areas and to avoid any risk to the neighbours.