By RICARDO WELLS

Tribune Staff Reporter

rwells@tribunemedia.net

THE Justice for Marathon advocacy group yesterday staged a demonstration at the Rubis gas station on Robinson Road to bring attention to the organisation’s effort to get the government to address adequately the concerns of Marathon residents in the aftermath of the 2012 gas spill.

Bearing placards which read “benzene effects just don’t go away”, “missing - 16,827 gallons of oil and good government representation”, “today Marathon, tomorrow your yard” and “wrong for one, wrong for all”, dozens of supporters protested at the intersection of Robinson Road and Old Trail Road.

Justice for Marathon spokesperson Latoya Hanna, warned that yesterday’s demonstration was the first of many, adding that the group would not relent until government officials agree to free independent testing for residents and make both the Arcadis and van de Weerdt reports public.

“We will continue to fight until we get answers and we get all that we are requesting,” she said. “We are very much unhappy and frustrated because this government has the responsibility to ensure that the environment the citizens live and reside in is safe and right now the environment is not safe.”

Ms Hanna insisted that despite government claims that all is well in Marathon, residents are still at risk. She indicated that many people are still struggling to connect to city water because they are financially unable.

Last week, during a press conference to announce the preliminary findings of the van de Weerdt report which was commissioned by the government in conjunction with the Pan American Health Organisation, Environment Minister Kenred Dorsett indicated that the government was working to resolve city water connection issues.

An independent report prepared by Black and Veatch International last year found that Marathon residents were “possibly exposed to harmful chemicals”, including cancer-causing benzene. That report, however, never confirmed to what extent residents were exposed to long-term health effects.

Alphonso Smith, a resident of Marathon for 40 years, said the government’s decision not to release the findings of the Black and Veatch report put lives and livelihoods at risk.

“That’s is an indictable offence for the government to know that we have been fed with poisonous gas for one year and not tell us anything,” Mr Smith said. “This government is not a responsible government. They are no longer capable of handling the affairs of the Bahamian people.”

According to Mr Smith, in the two months following the Black and Veatch revelations, the Justice for Marathon group has compiled a list of more than 100 residents who cannot afford to connect to city water and aren’t being assigned by the government. “We are asking the government to resign, every last one of them,” he said. “The Cabinet needs to resign.”

Another Marathon resident, Annette Bullard Pratt, said she is convinced the government is trying to mislead the public on their handling of the Rubis matter. “To say that only five homes were affected and it’s not the truth. I have already done the test that they required from us. I was told no longer than yesterday that the phenol level in my blood was a bit high,” Mrs Bullard Pratt said.

“I came off city water. Nobody came around to say they would assist with the cost. I had to spend $1,500 to get that well dug. I have eight persons in my house and all of us are affected. Even though they are responding to some of my requests I am still annoyed because I don’t feel as though they are responding the way that they ought to respond.

“These are people that were elected, they were elected to serve the people. Not only some parts of the Bahamas: all, and that includes the people of Marathon as well.”

Meanwhile, the government argues that no Marathon residents were ever exposed to any “dangerous levels of contaminants” following the 2012 fuel leak.