Always loved Jack Johnson and now I love him even more. He definitely rocks it!

to me this is absolutely unacceptable. Rubis should NOT be the ones investigating the claim. The Buckner's and MofE should be insisting that an independent party is brought on to investigate. I am also dismayed that the residents of Sandyport are not up in arms about this. Their own children swim and play in the canals - are they all so prepared to find out the truth when it is too late. Come on people - stand up for something!! How many of these issues will we have to deal with before common sense prevails. No wonder so many are packing up and leaving this rotting nation.

birdiestrachan - "even if the public was not notified"??? Really? people swim in that canal, they paddle and kayak in that canal, they shop along the canalfront and dine at restaurants where the smell from the leak is oftentimes quite overpowering and nauseating. the absolute first step should have been to notify residents to stay out of the canals until investigations were complete. And you should not have the company potentially involved in the leak to be the one to investigate. We are relying on the word of Rubis to say that it wasn't them? Really? Have you not been following the issue with the oil spills at Clifton from the BEC plant? The Marathon issue? There is absolutely nothing in place to address the gas/oil that is in Sandyport and other than seeing a few Rubis folk walking around, nothing seems to have been done. The issue has been going on for at least a month with reports made to Rubis, the Ministry and the Sandyport Developers and no one acted or said a peep until comments were posted on the Raising AWareness of the Bahamas Landfill page on Facebook. When will we learn to do better?

not quite sure why the police are just standing around. they were to escort the union off of the property (private property) and yet they are standing around? bahamians have absolutely no respect for the police and it's becoming clear why - they are not assertive enough. in another country you can rest assured the bahamians would have left as requested. shameful behaviour.

as a frequent visitor to the sandyport marina area i can confirm that over the past 2 weeks the smell of gas/oil has been horrendous at various times during the day around spritz, the hair salon, the marina itself. there have been numerous postings of photos of oil/gas floating on the water and some residents and business owners have noticed this issue since at least mid-may. one business took it upon themselves to send employees home yesterday as the smell of benzene was causing nausea in some of the employees. the issue was reported several weeks ago to the Minister of the Environment but it seems that everything was being kept quiet until it was raised on Facebook. Rubis had received multiple calls from concerned residents and shop keepers so for the writer of this article to say no shopkeepers had noticed anything isn't quite true. It's like many other environmental issues - areas affected depending on tide, wind direction, location etc.... At least the response has been quicker, there is more public awareness and hopefully there will be resolution. It's better to err on the side of caution and investigate and make the public aware than it is to bury the issue and to try to keep it quiet. The only major concern i have is that in other countries the govts bring in independent testers to determine if there is a breach - in the Bahamas we have the company that could possibly be in breach do the investigating - there is something quite wrong with that picture.

Good commentary - very on point. From my own experience, having lived and educated away for 20 years post-graduation from school in Nassau, and then returning in my mid-30's - everything you say above is true. I was "over qualified" for every job that I was actually qualified for, and the only opportunity to work would have been in banking - which I hated and did not study for at all. So, I was forced to start my own businesses freelancing and fortunately they worked out. At 40 years I began to work freelance as a photographer which was the only thing I had wanted to do since I was 13 years old but was told I'd never make money in so I followed a traditional path - which was primarily one of misery, disappointment etc and led to years of feeling like a failure because I was not fulfilling my ultimate desire. Now I do better financially freelancing in the field that I love and was destined to do than in any job I had in banking or another sell out field. I agree with you - any one that goes away to study - stay away. Our country is failing and floundering and there is little to no opportunity for you here. Quite sad.

I say kudos to the government if they really are doing something to enforce a standard of maintenance on the taxis. The biggest problems on the roads come from taxis, buses and trucks and the govt needs to come down harder. Tired of seeing taxis with smoke spewing out of the exhaust, bald tyres yet racing at 60+ mph to get to the airport to be next in line, stopping anywhere (just like the buses), in indicators or brake lights. Since they are incapable of policing themselves they need to be penalized. They have gotten away with too much. I don't care about scratches and I don't think road traffic does either.

"he was going to review data and that sort of stuff" - what sort of idiot is this Minister? A toxicologist is brought in from abroad to address the health concerns of citizens of the Bahamas and the Minister of Health doesn't know what the guy is supposed to be doing? OMG. Sick and tired of these people who "run" our country. I just hope that irregardless of the testing that is done now, the residents of Marathon will need to be tested again in 3 years and then 7 then 10 - often the illnesses that come as a result of this kind of toxicity take years to manifest themselves. Just because they are clear today does not mean they will not be sick from this in a few years.

If you connect the dots, one of the motives of China seems to be to claim major harbours/waterfront in countries lying on the doorstep of the US. Right now, the US and other countries sit at China's doorstep - it's time for an about face. China has little interest in the success of the Bahamas as a nation. What they ultimately seem to want is our waterfront and only our waterfront. When we become so indebted to them, and Baha Mar is ultimately a failure, China will be free and clear to establish naval bases in Nassau, Abaco, Grand Bahama and then in countries such as Panama and possibly Cuba. It certainly explains the escalation of relations between the US and Cuba. This is going to be interesting to watch. Kind of like the game battleship - US on one side and China on the next.

i sure hope ingraham doesn't come back. and i'm glad Dr. Minnis is not listening to the senior FNM politicians. Tired of the way the old boys do things - that's what has been killing this country. we need to approach the running of this country differently and hopefully that is what Minnis will be doing. I've heard some of his plans for this country and they are exactly what we need to happen. i was completely surprised when he spoke of some of the changes he wants to make. it will sure shake things up around here but again, that's what we need. tired of the same old nonsense.