Update on The Bahamas Offshore Oil Drilling
Activists in The Bahamas made headway in a Bahamian court while an exploratory oil well was being drilled offshore in the pristine Caribbean waters, only a few miles from the coast of Florida. The Bahamas government opened 3.9 million acres of water to offshore drilling.
Drilling began on December 20th 2020 in the “Perseverance #1 Well” and is continuing despite the lawsuit brought by the grassroots environmental groups,
"Waterkeeper Bahamas Limited" and "Coalition to Protect Clifton Bay". The International Marine Mammal Project (IMMP) of Earth Island Institute, along with a wide range of local and national environmental organizations, is opposing the drilling.
However, Bahamian Supreme Court Justice Petra Hanna-Weekes did grant the plaintiffs the right to proceed with their lawsuit challenge to the government, although she has not yet taken action to stop the drilling.
Save the Bays’ Chairman Joe Danville told Eyewitness News of The Bahamas that: “Recognizing the oil drilling is a matter of vital public interest to the Bahamian people, (the judge) granted us leave to challenge all the approvals given to the Bahamas Petroleum Company since February 2020,” he said. “The judge also gave us permission to ascertain whether the Town Planning Committee should have required BPC to qualify for site plan approval, which, as far as we know, they did not.”
This drilling comes despite tourism being the most important part of The Bahamas’ economy. Such drilling is also a threat to the Atlantic Coast of the United States, where local coastal activists and politicians have been fighting against offshore oil drilling for years.
Oil exploration requires extremely loud noises generated by shooting off-air guns into the water column to map out potential oil-bearing rocks from the echoes off the layers of earth. These booms can be heard for miles underwater. Marine mammals, in particular, are sensitive to loud underwater noise pollution, which has led to ear damage and the death of cetaceans. Oil drilling also comes with loud mechanical noise and uses many toxic materials in drilling muds that are dumped into the ocean after use. Small oil spills tend to be routine, especially in transferring oil to surface vessels for transport to land for processing.
California waters have been drilled for years, resulting in the massive 1969 oil spill – a blowout of an underwater well, which tarred Santa Barbara beaches with an estimated 3 million gallons of oil. This incident helped fuel the growth of the emerging modern environmental movement. Such an oil spill could tar beaches in The Bahamas for years to come, as the oil takes time to break down. The use of dispersants to control oil includes additional toxic components, further poisoning marine life.
The Bahamian government would be unable to contain a major oil spill or make payments to fisherpeople, the tourism industry, coastal communities, and others impacted by the oil. Coral reefs in The Bahamas are already suffering from bleaching, likely caused by increasingly warm water from global warming episodes of high temperatures. Adding oil to the mix presents a major threat to these reefs and the marine life that depends on them.
According to the local Bahamas Reef Environment Educational Foundation (BREEF), to date, the BPC has published a substandard Environmental Impact Assessment and an inadequate spill response plan.
“With regards to the oil drilling,” Dr. Adelle Thomas, a climate change expert with the University of the Bahamas, told the Bahamas Tribune, “I think it is absolutely against our best interests - as one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to climate change - to pursue oil drilling.”
She added: “It is the equivalent of us being on a sinking ship, and asking the international community for help, while at the same time drilling holes in the hole and throwing out our lifeboats.”
What You Can Do:
Sign the petition urging Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis to cancel all oil drilling and exploration leases in The Bahamas. Protection of its coral reefs and the ocean is vital to the people of The Bahamas and to the world.
The campaign is raising funds to support the lawsuit. You can donate here.
Follow the work of the International Marine Mammal Project of Earth Island Institute to receive updates and other news about offshore oil drilling and gas and oil exploration threats.
The oceans of the world are home to dolphins, whales, and thousands of other marine species. Oil pollution threatens these species with chronic and explosive oil spills while contributing to the dangers of global warming. Please donate to the International Marine Mammal Project of Earth Island Institute to help protect whales, dolphins, and their marine environments.
