Judge agrees for BPC to be joined in court action

Supreme Court Justice Petra Hanna-Adderley ruled on Friday that Bahamas Petroleum Company (BPC) may be added as a party in the judicial review of the government’s decision to authorize exploratory oil drilling by the company.

Waterkeeper Bahamas Ltd. and the Coalition to Save Clifton Bay brought the action against the government, charging that the relevant provisions in the law regarding approval for drilling were not fulfilled.

However, BPC was not named as a defendant.

On Friday, Hanna-Adderley said that she accepted the positions of BPC and Bahamas Offshore Petroleum (BOP) “that they may be directly impacted by the proceedings”.

The judge ruled that BPC and BOP (a wholly-owned Bahamian subsidiary of BPC) be joined as respondents.

Environment Minister Romauld Ferreira is named as the first respondent.

Director of Environmental Protection and Planning Rochelle Newbold is named as the second respondent, and the attorney general (in a representative capacity of the governor general) is listed as the third respondent.

Fred Smith, QC, who represents the environmental groups, said he “obliged”.

Clare Montgomery, QC, who represents BPC, said she was “very grateful”.

“We also suggested that it might be sensible for your ladyship to give some directions given the decision you’ve taken in order to both progress the judicial review and also because it is the intention of BPC and BOP to issue an application for security of costs,” she said.

“And so, I was going to propose directions for both those aspects.” 

Montgomery said the application will be filed by 4 p.m. today.

Hanna-Adderley asked Smith if he could respond within seven days.

He replied, “…Hopefully, I can. That should not be unreasonable. But it depends on what is the extent of the application because, as you know, we have been challenging this issue of security of cost for some time before the courts in these kinds of applications.

“And the government, not having pursued its application, it seems almost — you know, we’re on the cusp of trial and we’re trying to deal with this on the merits. 

“I’d invite Ms. Montgomery to take instructions again and consider whether she really wishes to proceed with this.”

Smith asked Montgomery how much she was asking for in security of costs.

She said she was unable to give a figure “because we’re still just looking at the numbers”.

Smith told Hanna-Adderley that he wanted until February 10, 2021, to file any affidavit evidence in response. 

Montgomery said if Hanna-Adderley were to grant Smith’s request, then her side would aim to have a skeleton argument by February 12. 

Waterkeeper Bahamas Ltd. and Coalition to Protect Clifton Bay are challenging several decisions in relation to this matter, among them the environment minister’s decision in February 2020 to grant BPC environmental authorization; the decision in November 2020 to approve changes to the project and a decision in November 2020 to issue a new environmental authorization.

The applicants are also challenging the decision by the directorof environmental protection and planning in February 2020 to approve BPC’s environmental impact assessment (EIA) and environmental management plan (EMP); the director’s November 2020 decision to approve the amended resubmitted EIA and/or the decision in November 2020 to approve the changes to the project without an amended EIA and EMP.

In addition, the applicants are challenging the decisions by the governor general in April 2020 to renew or extend the validity of the licenses of BPC/BOP to December 2020; the decision in August 2020 to renew or extend the validity of the licenses to April 2021, and the November 2020 decision to renew or re-extend the validity of BPC’s licenses to June 2021.

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source https://thenassauguardian.com/judge-agrees-for-bpc-to-be-joined-in-court-action/