RE: Good news14 Dec 2020 14:57
AG: No choice but to allow oil drilling
hTtps://thenassauguardian.com/ag-no-choice-but-to-allow-oil-drilling/
The Minnis administration is legally bound to allow Bahamas Petroleum Company (BPC) to conduct its exploratory oil drilling in Bahamian waters this month because BPC has had no legal breach of its licensing agreements and its delayed exercise was as a result of decisions of The Bahamas government and through no fault of its own, Attorney General Carl Bethel said yesterday.
Bethel also said the licensing agreements with BPC are not in the public domain because they are not public documents.
“The (environment) minister had initially had the view that they (BPC) were timed out and were in breach and he so informed them,” Bethel said.
“We asked [a consultant in the Office of the Attorney General] to look into the legalities when they protested that the minister was incorrect, and he looked at all the documentation and it was clear that they had been ordered to cease and desist by two governments, Ingraham and Christie governments, pending implementation of environmental regulations.
“They had been prevented from adhering to the timelines by the dictates of the government. So, when that advice came, I did my duty and I informed Cabinet the position that they had breached their obligations was incorrect and that any breach was as a result of the mandate and orders and direction of government, successive governments.
“And so, we had to instruct the minister of environment to withdraw the position that he had held and to accept the fact that they were perfectly entitled and that they were not in breach.
“If you took out the time that they had been refused permission to proceed by successive governments, they were not in breach. That is the reality.”
Bethel was called for comment after Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis said on Friday that he is totally against drilling for oil in Bahamian waters, but the government was advised by its legal department there is a commitment to BPC and “basically we could not get out of it”.
The attorney general said it took years for the Bahamas government to conclude its environmental regulations and BPC had been “frustrated” by government dictates.
The controversial issue has been placed back into the spotlight as BPC intends to conduct its exploratory drilling near Cay Sal Bank within days. The drillship, Stena IceMAX, is making its way to The Bahamas for the exercise.
Last Tuesday, the environmental groups Waterkeeper Bahamas Ltd. and Coalition to Protect Clifton Bay (Save the Bays) filed legal action intended to stop the company from proceeding.
They submit that the decisions to approve the authorization for drilling were procedurally unfair, irrational, an abuse of power and therefore unlawful.
They also say there was no public consultation, or inadequate consultation, as required under law.
A key pleading they make for why the action was not brought sooner is that they h
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