If the state of play is as you claim: -
"the prospect of finding oil in our territorial waters is zilch."

Then what is all the fuss about?

If there is no oil there will be no oil spill and all the huffing and puffing will have been a waste of everyone's time. BPC will have wasted their $100,000,000 plus in the process.

The drill is about ascertaining whether there MAY be an alternative to many years with a much-reduced tourism industry - which will suit some of those sat with residual income to satisfy their needs. The NIMBYs of the world will be extremely happy to allow the status quo - no foreigners messing up the beaches and streets.

But how do people traverse the islands?
How do all the visitors get to the islands in the first place?
How do supplies from outside the islands arrive in the shops?

How do Bahamians like to travel and see somewhere perhaps less beautiful?

Millions of gallons of oil are used, millions more transported, and stored safely, around the waters of the Bahamas every week, and until the green industry finds a greater solution to what is available NOW - then surely there is a need to investigate in a safe and proper manner.

Whilst this is obviously not the end of the objections to drilling - I do hope consideration is given for the little people, who are not in a position due to education and finance, to have their say.

Where we are at the moment - a QC trying to crush a small independent oil explorer who has been extremely open with their commitment for well over 10 years.

More than a decade where any environmental argument could have been placed before a court to deny any company from exploring for oil within Bahamian waters.

Whilst previous ministers have gone with their own legal advice behind them to ensure that any exploration would be safe and meeting the criteria of an EIA.

That EIA had been agreed in principle at the highest level of the current government which are now claiming they disagree with the exploration in Bahamian waters.

The EIA requirements which have been met - the argument that a different but more complex and reliable would replace the original one is farcical.

Again the notification of the change of vessel was well advertised months before any JR had been suggested.

The question is why leave it until days before the drill bit hit the seabed?

A very unsavoury tactic which was seen and noted by the judge who has allowed the drill to continue unhindered.

Many Facebook pages from Anti Drill groups exist - however - little comment on any of them. Some are opened by the same individual or groups.

Many news articles have been published in local papers YET, very little uptake by local people (some 400,000 of them).

The same names appear objecting to any thoughts of a drill - I counted less than 24 individuals posting about objecting to any exploration.

Currently Bahamas tourism is almost at a standstill and some 50% plus of GDP comes from the tourism industry - and with just under 50% of employment being in that sector, times will become grimmer as the Covid pandemic creates more uncertainty.

How will the Bahamas react to any foreign tourist visiting their islands - with or without masks.

Can the Bahamian people control a tourist who has been aching for freedom and finds the beautiful beaches and people too difficult to resist?

Can the Bahamian people afford not to investigate a more diverse source of income? One which could bring employment and a different avenue for young people to find employment.

The Bahamians I know left due to the lack of work outside the often low paid avenues of tourism. Whilst the role of service plays a massive role in most countries there are usually other forms of employment outside serving the foreigner who perhaps sees the servile as being of a lower rank to them.

I have myself been in service and I know how it feels to be looked down upon by people who are not fit to clean my shoes. But money talks of course.

Money is something a lot of that 50% employed in the tourism industry are not earning these days.

Whilst those fighting for ecology are well educated and able to protest without fear of losing their jobs/income the rest are left to fend for themselves.

Voltaire - I have said all along this ballot would be null and void because of the votes outside of the area. You said yourself that the usual voting is a couple of hundred.

That said, as there is known to be a lot of votes coming from outside we cannot be sure all votes pro-drilling are from outside and the same can be said for the no-drilling.

It is quite apparent that the voting is coming from all over the world and thus makes a mockery of the who escapade.

On a different note - you mention the issues in America - your neighbours.

In Britain, such issues as you will know are sorted over a cuppa or a pint of Watney's Pale Ale.

The drill will run until a result is known. That result will be examined by the company and I am sure they will allow those results to be known to the "interested parties" - they being the Government of the Bahamas, the drilling company and the shareholders.

That information will, of course, be in the public domain and as your government have alluded to the conditions set out in the original agreements are very tight.

BPC has met all its conditions and therefore they are operating legally.

BPC was, of course, kept out of the original application for JR, however, it is quite obvious by the terminology of the QC Smith: -
"Fred Smith QC, the Callenders & Co attorney and partner, told Tribune Business that Bahamas Petroleum Company (BPC) is "not out of the woods" yet despite Justice Petra Hanna-Adderley yesterday declining to grant a "stay" that would have halted drilling of its first exploratory well in waters 90 miles west of Andros.

So why was BPC kept out of the application IF Mr Smith is now claiming BPC are not out of the woods?

Surely this JR was against the government's decision to grant the authority and licences to BPC and it was that issue the fight was about.

NOW, of course, it is all about BPC, who Mr Smith and his cohorts, keep denying an opportunity to defend itself.

Now that is rather unfair in my view.

It is a case of let is pretend it is not about BPC and claim, as Mr Smith had done throughout, that it was about the government.

I'm afraid that if I can see through that ruse - a learned colleague will be able to.

Should BPC be disallowed to defend itself and/or not be allowed to complete their legal right to continue with exploration and/or drilling to produce - the country will itself have to consider how to compensate.

Alternatively, allow the current parliament to renegotiate the whole issue.

Looking through the many news articles about drilling in the Bahamas it is extremely bad manners to try and commence a JR at the time it did.

All knowledge about dates, locations, type of drill was known years ago.

I will keep a watchful eye over proceedings on Change - I notice Jadwiga Gewert from Miami Beach has signed so she is perhaps local for the cause. Lizmarie Santiago is one I could not locate in the Bahamas similarly Raquel Ramotar.

Voltaire - Like I have mentioned several times unless the vote was made secure enough to only have local people casting a vote then this particular ballot is null and void.

As you know many people can vote outside of the Bahamas and without requiring an identity or location.

The courts will, of course, decide whether there will be any further drilling. Most arguments I have seen have not been about the drilling and extraction of oil BUT more the amount of money that would be going into the coffers of government.

I watched the video with the DPM online and as he suggested, perhaps some people of government involved in negotiating the contracts may have too close affiliation and therefore a potential benefit.

IF - commercial quantities of oil are found then the current government will need to be squeaky clean when it comes to percentages etc.

We live in a world where sadly MONEY talks.

As for voting here - as you suggested earlier - the maximum amount of votes cast are around a couple of hundred so we can all see this one makes a mockery due to lack of identity.

Whilst yes votes MAY not all be from locals one can only assume not all no votes are the same. Only a handful of comments are from 'outsiders' so one cannot assume anything other than this vote has failed. It needs an insider only ballot and perhaps not on a page like this.

To make a point about how rioned this ballot is, there is little activity or objection shown on any of the Facebook pages, and very little activity on any of the other Tribune242 ballots.

Voltaire - the company have a website and its financial affairs are published as the laws dictate.

As for government ministers, I have known some and would I trust them? I think you know the answer to that.

The current situation with CV19 is crippling the world's economies and the rich, well they just get richer and that tiny percentage of wealthiest owning what becomes a little smaller. Money talks - as for percentages of who gets what - it is mere speculation as we do not know if there are commercial quantities of anything under the surface.

Should there be commercial oil, there would no doubt be lots of training for people in the Bahamas. There will be opportunities for work outside the 50-60% that is tourism currently and the wages will be far in excess of what can be earned from the tourist dollar.

Again this is hypothetical as we do not know the answer of what lies beneath.

Looking at a subject from a singular angle will not give a wider idea of what could play out here. YES, there could be a disaster - BUT that is a what-if scenario the same as whether sufficient oil is there in the first place.

Try and see the issue from pro's and con's. Then you will be playing from an angle where you can take a better high ground with your disagreement with drilling.

I do not know your family/financial background, whether you live or lived in the Bahamas. I do not live there, nor have I been able to afford a holiday there yet. I do though have friends who have left the islands and sought a different future elsewhere where there is more opportunity. Similarly, we have a lot of folks leaving the countryside due to lack of opportunities around the country and instead, we have an influx of the rich who wish to create a different vibe.

This is the way of the world as it stands.

As yet - we have drilling off the coast of Cuba and of course, further away is the coast of the Bahamas. The rig is a lot different to that of the DWH as is the drilling methodology.

A few more weeks of safe drilling and it will be capped off and sealed.

Stay safe and by using the virtues of your username - remain tolerant.

Voltaire - I stated in one of my initial posts that the newspaper ballot should have been solely for the local people. As you will no doubt know the additional 1000 as you say arrived out of Bahamian hours. Could that perhaps also be said about the many hundreds of vote supporting the anti-drilling campaign?

Either way, this particular ballot has been skewed by outside influences. There is no doubt about that.

The Change.org site has many good and proper petitions and I do believe it is a genuine means of collectively gaining an opinion on matters, however, it is not a panacea.

The approach to anti-drilling appears to be a little scattergun and has too many influencers pulling the debate in too many directions for it to gain the traction it would need to be a success. I am assuming a lot of the power in the movement seems to be outside of the islands, therefore it has not been at the forefront of focus for the inhabitants of the island.

Again I will re-iterate that the current operations of BPC are exploratory and nobody knows the results. It may be that there is no commercial oil under the ocean floor and therefore there is no money for the shareholders, the company or the people of the Bahamas.

If that is the case then BPC and its shareholders have paid a bundle of money to the GoB over the years for the privilege of trying to discover whether the Bahamas is sitting on a vast treasure.

As technical abilities improve, oil could be removed from the side via Cuban waters with no benefit to the Bahamas. Horizontal drilling is a viable means of extracting it.

The same risks apply of course and as the potential fields if drilled vertically would be Bahamian they would benefit Bahamian people.

A scenario is 100% of zero is zero. A percentage of a positive number up to 50% with no financial obligation to GoB is a potentially better financial option.

You may say that all the oil belongs to the Bahamas so therefore the Bahamas should get more than 50% - BUT with no operational costs to pay. That would never be a viable option - in an article in the Tribune: -
Simon Potter, Bahamas Petroleum Company's (BPC) chief executive, speaking before the threatened legal challenge by environmental activists emerged (see other article on Page 1B), told Tribune Business that the company and Bahamian government will enjoy an equal 50/50 share of any proceeds should it discover commercial quantities of oil in this nation's waters.

Pot/Kettle - It is a little like the Change.org campaign - taken over by folks who do not live in the Bahamas.

All appears fair but only where it suits.

The argument is that BPC should not drill for oil off the coast of Cuba to give a possibility - a mere possibility, that the Government of the Bahamas - may review what may be found under Bahamian waters.

Then once reviewed make a decision as to whether the pro's outweigh the cons.

Oil drilling has changed, the world changes every day. Cuba, Guyana, Nicaragua, T&T, Venezuela are all producing oil. Of course the USA produces much oil too. A lot of the oil produced passes unhindered and without incident through Bahamian waters.

This drill gives the Bahamian Government the option to explore further for the benefit of not only the company BUT the people of the Bahamas.

It is an option to leave any oil under the seabed and never benefit from the resource owned by the Bahamas and allow the country to spiral into further debt which is the option I believe you favour.

Alternatively - bring in a super major oil company who would probably offer less to the GoB as they have hungrier shareholders.

Last resort would be to allow BPC to carry on their exploration and then weigh up all of the options BUT have the evidence at hand on which to base the educated choices on. Currently, the ball is in the air.

As for the vote - I would expect that this vote is put into the same comparison investigation that the Change.org ballot sits. Best regards and stay safe ;@) CG

Voltaire, on the other hand it appears you and others insist on the input of others outside of the islands.

With one comes the other. It is a little bit like having your cake and eating it.

Whilst I have not tried to come across as disingenuous, I have attempted to clarify some matters which seem at odds.

A little like saving the Bahamas - with the defenders sending work elsewhere not even just out of town but to the USA.

Disagreeing that people outside of the Bahamas cannot agree with the drill, whilst allowing all and sundry around the world to disagree with it.

Whilst I am from outside of the Bahamas, I can see a country heavily dependent upon tourism, ravished by Dorian and now Covid will struggle to make ends meet in the future.

It will take time to rebuild the infrastructure if there is not the tourist money coming into the islands.

Would you really wish the majority of Bahamians to sit on many billions of dollars in revenue and demand it be left whilst many other countries use the same ports to move the oil taken by the billion barrels from neighbouring regions and watch those countries flourish with the oil money?

The rates of which payment is made are always open for renegotiation though, would you expect someone to come to your home and rebuild it without donating a penny towards the expenses?

Has anyone in the Bahamas the experience to search for the oil, drill and perhaps process it?

This is an expensive business and already more than £100,000,000 has been invested thus far by BPC.

That has been a big risk to them and its shareholders -
Can you imagine QC Smith carrying out all of his work for zero return?

Does the company looking after the website and its hosting do that for zero return?

BPC if successful in finding oil, will return to the government (your government) and present to them their findings.

Your government will then have the choice to gain some riches for themselves and your islands population.

I do not profess to know what the current and previous cabinet have agreed with BPC. I am sure these details will be filtered down via the process with the Supreme Court.

Let the SC be the decider. Stay safe ;@)

Below is a couple of paragraphs from an earlier Tribune article dated January 11th 2018 - YES that is right 2018. Curious as to why it has taken almost 2 years to submit a request for a Judicial Review - Surely there would have been mass comments upon any anti-drill article IF there was so much uproar in the Bahamas. There are many articles and I would agree that there have been some negative comments made on those articles - however, perhaps all are from no more than a dozen different usernames.

Is there such a burgeoning group of anti-drill campaigners within the Bahamas?

As with any protest there must be some organisation, some clarity upon what roles certain protesters would do, however, I hate to say it - this is so scattergun and without clarity.

I bid you good day and wish you all the best for 2021. I am sure Mr Smith QC will have some further treats lined up in the next few weeks.

Nevertheless here is the couple of paragraphs I alluded to in the opening.

With the April 2018 deadline to drill a first exploratory well near the Cuban maritime border fast approaching, and BPC's search for a joint venture partner continuing, it is highly likely that the oil explorer will have to seek a licence extension similar to the 12 months it obtained from the former Christie administration.

***While environmental activists and others are opposed to oil exploration in Bahamian waters, due to the potentially negative impacts on the environment, tourism and economy should a spill occur, the potential benefits for a Government struggling with a near-$7.5 billion national debt are likely to be too strong to ignore.***

#The former government passed into law a regulatory framework to govern oil exploration, as well as creating a sovereign wealth fund to handle any royalties and other proceeds from its discovery. It also shelved any referendum on whether to permit oil drilling in Bahamian waters until after there was confirmation that such deposits exist.