Young: Government’s pursuit of oil polluters is right thing to do

News

Stuart Young -

ENERGY Minister Stuart Young was unfazed by attorney Nyree Alfonso's assertion that money from the potential sale of the tugboat Solo Creed would not cover the costs of the clean-up of the oil-spill off Tobago. He replied via WhatsApp to questions from Newsday on October 28.

On February 7, the tugboat was towing the barge Gulfstream which overturned on a reef and then leaked bunker oil in the waters off Cove, Tobago, the contaminant also reaching Grenada and Bonaire. With 51,000 barrels of oil spilt, the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) requested $134 million towards a clean-up, of which the government gave $50 million, but with compensation also due to be paid to fishermen. For months the tugboat could not be found, even as efforts were made to extract the remaining oil from the Gulfstream which was then towed to Trinidad.

Nyree Alfonso -

On October 23, Finance Minister Colm Imbert told the Senate that five days before, Trinidad and Tobago had arrested the Solo Creed in Angola, pending legal action.

However, maritime attorney Nyree Alfonso recently told Newsday that despite TT arresting the Solo Creed, the government was unlikely to recover the $244 million spent on clean-up efforts, from the owners of what she reckoned was an ageing boat.

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“If the owners want to get back their boat, they put up security (in escrow) and say, ‘I will take my boat in return for the security and then we'll litigate and we can fight up in court.'

“Nobody in their right mind will put up more money than their vessel is worth and my rough estimate is that this boat is worth maybe $US500,000 - US$750,000. So that means the likelihood of somebody coming forward to put up security is next to nil.”

Alfonso said meanwhile other costs could accrue, including lawyers fees, security charges and port charges.

Newsday put Alfonso's concerns to Young.

He replied, “No one said that the sale of the Solo Creed would cover the cost of the oil spill.

"The pursuit and arrest of the vessel was what is required by a responsible government taking all reasonable action to find the persons who are responsible for the oil spill."

Young said TT has secured an order from the Oil Pollution Compensation (IOPC) Funds that TT will recover reasonable and legitimate costs of the oil spill from the fund. The IOPC Funds are part of an international liability and compensation regime for oil spills from tankers.

"As part of that arrangement we will seek to find the owners and recover any sums of money that we may be able to from those who are responsible.

"Any monies recovered from those responsible will assist in setting off the costs of the oil spill."

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