By LAMECH JOHNSON

Tribune Staff Reporter

ljohnson@tribunemedia.net

A FORMER Cabinet minister is not convinced that the fumes emanating from a service station on East Bay Street are the result of “rotting vegetation” instead of a gas or diesel leak.

Former State Minister for Environment Phenton Neymour yesterday expressed his reservations on a Rubis executive’s dismissal of concerns by neighbouring businesses of the “bad smell” as “not harmful”.

Managing director of Rubis Bahamas and Turks and Caicos Gordon D Craig told The Tribune last week that since work began on renovating the service station, the Department of Environmental Health Services (DEHS) has done inspections everyday to ensure that the site is up to standard.

However, Mr Neymour yesterday called on Minister for Environment Kenred Dorsett to make an official statement on the matter after discovering a waste truck and dump truck at the site during yesterday’s thunderstorm.

“I’ve spoken with experts in the petroleum industry who themselves have smelt the odour and they are of the view that the smell is from gasoline,” the former state minister said.

“I know that site had a release in early 2000s because I witnessed it. It was determined that the site needed to be remediated and equipment to be replaced. It required a lot of work by then owners Chevron Texaco. They began the exercise but Texaco was sold to Rubis in early 2012. It appears, from what I understand, that the remediation work either ceased entirely or it was never completed.”

Mr Neymour said the company may have allegedly neglected to carry out due diligence “in evaluating the site and deficiencies which they knew of as owners for the last four years”.

He added: “I visited the site moments ago and to my surprise, in all of this storming rain, there was a dump truck and there was also a sewage truck, which is presumably there to remove ground contaminants. I now question what is being done with this waste because a cesspit truck would have to be removing it to an approved treatment facility and the Harold Road landfill was not designed for petroleum waste. I know this because I was an engineer for that project.”

The former state minister said there are private companies that deal with petroleum products for treatment but not ground contaminants and waste.

“Where is the soil being removed to because it has to be treated properly and if they’re taking it to the Harold Road landfill, they would risk the dump catching fire again. I’d ask the government to do their job in monitoring the Rubis site and I call on them to make a statement, especially the minister responsible for environment. I question the safety of what transpired yesterday as well as the environmental stewardship,” Mr Neymour said.

Attempts to reach Mr Dorsett were unsuccessful up to press time.

Rubis has been under scrutiny ever since details surfaced that the company’s Robinson Road Station had a fuel leak in late December 2012.

Black and Veatch was contracted by the government in 2013 to ensure that the actions taken by Rubis (Bahamas) to address the spill were appropriate to protect public health and adequately remediate the environment.

A report prepared by Black and Veatch, completed on February 20, 2014, confirmed there were elevated levels of benzene in the area and concluded that assessments conducted by Rubis were insufficient and could not be used to determine whether persons in the area were exposed to contamination associated with the fuel release.

Last year, Rubis (Bahamas) officials were also investigating reports by residents and storeowners in the Sandyport area alleging that the company’s service station was emitting fumes and leaking small amounts of fuel into a nearby canal.