Judge agrees to hear full oil drilling case

A Supreme Court judge yesterday granted a group of environmentalists leave to appeal the government’s decision to allow Bahamas Petroleum Company (BPC) to drill for oil in The Bahamas, but denied their request to halt the drilling pending the outcome of the judicial hearing.

Waterkeeper Bahamas Limited and Coalition to Save Clifton Bay had sought a stay of drilling activities taking place 90 miles off Andros.

Taking into account the amount of money spent in the preparation for the exercise, as well as the effect it would have on the agreement between BPC and the government, in addition to the significant financial loss that BPC would suffer, Justice Petra Hanna-Adderley ruled that in this case a stay would have amounted to an injunction.

The justice said she also took into account the fact that drilling has already commenced and any difficulty that would arise from stopping it midway.

Hanna-Adderley did allow, without exception, the applications to proceed to a full judicial hearing, which she said would allow the applicants to focus on the process, which led to the granting of licenses and ultimately the permission for BPC to carry out exploratory oil drilling.

She also approved the applicants’ motion to add the Town Planning Committee as a party in the matter.

The judicial review is set for February 17 and 18.

As for BPC’s application to be added as a party, that hearing has been scheduled for January 14 at 2 p.m.

The environmentalists’ legal team opposes BPC’s application.

Fred Smith, QC, who represents the environmental groups, applauded the justice’s decision to grant a judicial review saying it now allows all things to come to light.

“We still don’t know what those agreements say,” he said. “What did our governments agree to with BPC?”

Smith added, “The court said we met all the criteria and is giving us our day in court. And I am, on behalf of the coalition, very grateful to the court for including everything in the package for trial.”

He said, “What this means is this very important matter to the public is going to be aired in court. There will be full transparency and the government is going to have to give evidence and demonstrate that they did in fact have the required consultation that the law requires so that the Bahamian people can participate in this process.

“The court will determine some very important issues like whether the Planning and Subdivision Act underwater, whether the Conservation and Protection of the Physical Landscape Act requires BPC to get an excavation drilling permit, whether the Environmental Health Services Act applies.”

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 director’s decision 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 (Bahamas Offshore Petroleum Limited) 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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