The one goat and three birds must have had compromised immune systems. All others survived.

Isn't it ridiculous they want more oil facilities there?

So half the size of the ExxonValdez oil spill... Which was environmental disaster of global proportions. SMH

You folks need to take it easy, Nassau doesn't have any and yet they have a nasty spill as we speak, BPL. That spill was caused by a major hurricane lest we forget. BPL.. well ...

He added: "It would also be unconscionable for us not to make the necessary legislative changes to allow the government to take action where need be to protect people from themselves. In the face of all of this, my ministry is doing its part."
Protecting people from themselves? Is Romi serious? Is this what a democracy does? Defend to the bitter end a companies rights to pollute our home. Profits before people and our country? And then, remain silent on more oil facilities in this country. Remain silent on drilling for oil? Do we not see that we have a critical problem in this country? Have we lost our entire ability to think straight? Don't we want to know what caused this descent into ignorance? Was it our piss poor educational standards alone? Was it Rubis oil in the water supply? What exactly is it that has allowed the brains God gave us to wither and die on the vine?
After the lies that were fed to us on the amount of this spill, how much truth does anyone think is coming from Equinor or the Bahamian government?

Why did they fill those tanks just prior to the arrival of the hurricane?

> MORE than 100,000 barrels of oil - five million gallons - was spilled at the Equinor South Riding Point facility in East Grand Bahama during Hurricane Dorian, Environment Minister Romauld Ferreira said yesterday.

No one in the oil industry, especially the oil storage and transhipment business, talks about the volume of oil in terms of gallons as opposed to barrels. A standard barrel contains 42 gallons of crude oil. There could be only one reason for Equinor/Statoil and its representatives choosing to frequently refer to gallons rather than barrels and that's to create the impression they have acknowleged a large spill when in fact the actual spill was very much larger. Five million (5,000,000) gallons naturally sounds like a lot more than 119,000 barrels but that figure of 119,000 is likely greatly understated simply because monetary damages for such major oil spills is usually assessed based on the number of barrels spilled into the environment.

By Equinor/Statoil's own admission, the storage tanks at the facility were holding 1.8 million barrels of oil at the time of Dorian's arrival. Aerial photos and aerial video taken of the facility in the immediate aftermath of Dorian and posted all over social media clearly show that many of the tanks were severely breached (several had their dome tops completely blown off and away) and that a large amount of oil had spilled into the surrounding areas and possibly into the sea. The tanks were left holding nowhere near a total of 1.8 million barrels of oil which means most of it spilled into the surrounding environment and likely the sea as well. Some of the tanks which had been full were quite visibly left nearly empty after Dorian passed. To say only 119,000 barrels spilled into the environment strains credibility to say the least.

Obviously there was a failure to ensure the storage tanks could withstand sustained wind forces from a category 5+ major hurricane even though it has been well known for more than two decades now that such hurricanes have been whizzing about our area of the world with ever increasing frequency, intensity and severity. Equinor/Statoil must be made to bear full responsibilty for this environmental disaster. They must be held not only fully accountable for the cleanup effort, but also for all long term damages to the environment, wild life and health of Bahamians in the area by way of an appropriate financial settlement. At the moment there seems to be every indication that a 'cover up investigation' is well underway with our corrupt government's blessing.

Keep in mind that our mangroves and marshes tend to have higher Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) rankings due to the potentially long-lasting and damaging effects of both the oil contamination and cleanup actions. Also, our more permeable (porous) limestone substrates have a higher ESI ranking due to the slower speed at which natural processes will remove the oil. The damage has been done and we have a right to be compensated for having to live with its effects for years to come. We also have a right to receive assurances that steps will be taken to ensure the same thing does not happen when the next major hurricane visits the storage facility.

And why haven't The Tribune's investigative reporters made any serious inquiries into what our government has learned about the type and extent of insurance coverage Equinor/Statoil had in place for such a hurricane caused major oil spill occurring at their Grand Bahama storage facility???!!!

Excellent questions.