Tribune Published On: Wednesday, January 06, 2010

EDITOR, The Tribune.

I am writing in opposition to the Wilson City Power Plant which is currently scheduled to use a toxic fuel known as Bunker C in an extremely environmentally sensitive location. After attending the September 10, 2009 town hall meeting with other concerned residents of Abaco, my research about the location and fuel choice has brought to light the distressing economic and environmental impact this project will have on Abaco.

The more I learn about the location the more I can't understand how and why the decision was made. Having grown up near the Bight of Old Robinson and often giving tours of the blue holes in the mangrove creeks, I always knew that they were very deep holes and linked together by catacombs below the surface of the sea floor, however, I did not realise until recently that these holes are also linked to blue holes and catacombs under and near the new power plant. The few hundred yards would normally be enough of a buffer from the power plant site to the mangroves, however when the "Swiss cheese" nature of the ground is considered, it is obvious that the oil and chemicals that will be in the plant cooling water and future oil spills and storm water runoff will not only pollute the ground under the power plant but will also affect the fresh water lens and the mangrove creeks.

The really amazing thing that highlights the poor decision to locate the power plant at Wilson City is that the main area of mangroves and densest number of blue holes in the sea of Abaco is the area next to the power plant site. That is the reason that the Bahamas National Trust and Friends of the Environment has proposed the area as a National Park, which would protect the habitat required for reproduction of marine life for tourists to see at Sandy Cay reef and for the benefit of local and tourist fishermen alike.

Beyond the negative implications to tourism from the return of tar balls in the Sea of Abaco when the inevitable spills occur, the emissions from Bunker C are some of the worst. With very little research effort on the internet, I learned that Bunker C is what is left over after diesel, kerosene and gasoline are refined out of a barrel of Crude Oil and that all the especially toxic ingredients that are banned in cleaner fuels, to protect our health, are left behind in the Bunker C in a concentrated form. What is the point of distilling these substances from auto and boat gas and then breathing them in anyway when they are burned in a Bunker C power plant? Even worse, other countries now have cleaner fuel and therefore air while Bahamas residents will get a bigger dose of the bad stuff. This is an especially hard outcome to fathom when one realises that the additional costs of using Bunker C vs diesel fuel in generators likely cancels out any savings from the actual cost of the fuel, something BEC has obviously not factored in.

It is obvious that with the current methods or lack of methods the Bahamas Government is using to decide how to develop the country, Abaco has become a risky investment for many past and current investors. This is evidenced by a number of people that have shelved plans to buy or build in the WilsonCity area. I can only assume that the area will be economically depressed in the future if others are like me and would not consider buying property or building a house near a Bunker C power plant, no matter how low the purchase price.

If this plant is constructed as planned without the emissions controls and monitoring that are needed to protect the health of all residents, families that rely on rain water for drinking water will not be able to drink the water due to the toxic particulate matter that will be deposited on roofs, not to mention in their lungs. Is there really any compensation, such as supposed lower energy prices, that will offset the damage to the health of all Abaco residents and their children?

DAVID PITCAIRN

Abaco,

December 26, 2009.