Environmental coalition files action against govt over BPC approval
The environmental groups Waterkeeper Bahamas Ltd. and Coalition to Protect Clifton Bay yesterday filed legal action intended to stop Bahamas Petroleum Company (BPC) from proceeding with its exploratory offshore oil drilling exercise set for later this month.
The applicants are seeking leave to bring judicial review proceedings against the government’s decisions to authorize the drilling of Perseverance #1 well near the Cay Sal Bank in the southwestern waters of The Bahamas.
They submit that the decisions to approve the authorization for drilling were procedurally unfair, irrational, an abuse of power and therefore unlawful.
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.
Waterkeeper Bahamas Ltd. and Coalition to Protect Clifton Bay (also known as Save The Bays) seek to challenge 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 also seek to challenge 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 and resubmitted EIA and/or the decision in November 2020 to approve the changes to the project without an amended EIA and EMP.