The Minister of the Environment and Natural Resources led a delegation of officials to Grand Bahama to assess the oil spill and remediation efforts at Buckeye Partners.
The Hon. Vaughn Miller gave an report of how the approximately three barrels of product spilled in the sea. He said, “the terminal began flushing operations to facilitate the transfer of products between two tanks. The transfer was to allow the first tank to receive the new product near the outer jetty. Unrelated to this transfer two vessels were at the jetty conducting a non related exercise to the transfer. Within minutes of the transfer commencing the product fuel from loading arm A2 which was inactive and in the stowed position at the time of the incident, it began spraying out.”
Also on hand was Derek Ryan of the Department of Environmental Health Services (DEHS) who spoke to the visible sheen on the sea, “we cannot say definitively where this will go and remember this is not product on the water. This is not oil sitting on the surface of the water. This is actually a sheen on the surface of the water that will dissipate.”
Ryan also advised residents in nearby areas not to swim in the waters for a few days while flushing occurs.
