Mr Weeks gave an update on the workings of the committee, in the wake of a massive oil spill recovery effort in the Gulf of Mexico. The incident happened due to an explosion on a rig exploring for oil in the body of water on April 20, 2010.
“The Bahamas is continually testing its waters, as large volumes of oil continue to be released from the well. It will go on for another 30 to 60 days. But at the moment there is no evidence of any oil contaminated waters having washed upon the territorial shores of The Bahamas,” Mr Weech said.
As the potential looms for Bahamian waters becoming contaminated, a number of measures were put in place by the government to buffer the impact on the marine environment.
Firstly, by activating the committee, the government has brought all its relevant agencies together to provide and give advice regards how to work the threat and the potential impact on The Bahamas.
Secondly, the involvement of the National Emergency Management Agency, headed by Captain Stephen Russell intended to deal with the short term response to clean up, to mobilize, and to do whatever is necessary if contaminated waters were to hit any area of The Bahamas.
And thirdly, to contact the International Maritime Organisation, which met with officials two weeks ago, produced a report, the recommendations of which NEMA and the committee are acting upon.
“Those recommendations deal with the acquisition of equipment and booms necessary to protect Bahamian shores and beaches, as well as deal with clean-up,” Mr. Weeks said.
The areas of expected impact are the Cay Sal Bank, Bimini, the western end of Grand Bahama and potentially the west coast of Andros. The priority areas of assessment are Cay Sal, Bimini and Grand Bahama.
“What the committee has recognised needs to be done is an urgent base-line assessment of the Cay Sal Bank, Bimini and Grand Bahama areas. Cay Sal and Bimini have been completed; the reports from both of them indicate that there is no evidence of oil contaminated waters at this particular time,” he said.
The committee is also devising responses to the long term effect on the marine environment of the Gulf and its adjacent waters, which includes The Bahamas, is the use of chemicals, the presence of oil itself, and marine garbage passing to the north of us in the Gulf Stream.
“The other concern we have is the fact that the magnitude of this particular spill at the start of the 2010 Atlantic Hurricane Season, is that if there is a significant storm that will occur anytime, there is the potential for the contaminated material in the Gulf to make its way to our shores,” Mr Weech said.
“We have been very fortunate at the moment because weather conditions in the Gulf are such that the oil and contaminated materials have been pretty much trapped into the Gulf, and has been coming ashore at Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida, north of the spill site.”
The United States Embassy in Nassau along with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration met with the oil spill committee and provided an overview of what the US government is doing regarding the situation and the likely impact on The Bahamas.
“The conclusion of that meeting was that we would in all likelihood, see tar balls, contaminated sea water, contaminated floating materials,” he said.
There is a fourth concern, that the quality vessels that traffic through Louisiana, Texas, Florida, coming down the Mississippi Delta through the oil spill and passing through The Bahamas going elsewhere, that their hulls would be contaminated. Another concern is that such vessels working in or transiting the Gulf region would need repairs at the Grand Bahamas Shipyard Facility, and the possibility of contamination there, Mr. Weech said.
An estimated two million gallons of oil is being discharged into the Gulf daily. It has been about 60 days since the oil spill, which is some 750 miles away from New Providence.
“It is highly unlikely that the spill will be stemmed until sometime at the end of August or September, according to the United States Coast Guard or British Petroleum, (the company deemed responsible), Mr. Weech said.
However testing was done from May 21 to 26 and another round of testing is proposed for June 21 to 26 in the Cay Sal Bank/Bimini areas.
“The IMO has recommended that if and when we see any oil or tar balls coming ashore in the Key West, Florida area, that is our trigger point when something has to be done,” Mr. Weech said.
The agencies working with the committee in terms of manpower and resources are NEMA, the Royal Bahamas Defence Force, the Department of Marine Resources, the Ministry of Environment, the Department of Environmental Services, the Bahamas National Trust, the Nature Conservancy, the Grand Bahama Port Authority, and oil companies amongst others.
