Abaco, Bahamas to get its Bunker C power plant after all, and the hypocrisy of the political class

Rick Lowe

On a recent trip to Marsh Harbour we took a side trip out to the entrance gate of the new Bunker C power plant the Bahamas Government, through its subsidiary, the Bahamas Electricity Corporation (BEC), is installing in the Wilson City area of Abaco.

As you can see from the photo below, the construction is well under way.

But let's back up a bit.

In July this year a few engineers moved into Casuarina Point, Abaco to take up residence and commence the planning for the proposed 48 MW power plant.

About  month later the crew of migrant workers started to arrive and the plant was started in earnest.

Shortly after that, September 6, 2009 to be exact, The Friends of the Environment in Abaco, began a protest that culminated with this You Tube video that went viral, in these parts any way, which forced the governments hand (BEC) to host a town meeting. See a report of the meeting here from Bahamapundit.com.

Well it turns out that BEC, or the government, did not even bother to apply for permits to build the plant as the law dictates. A sad irony really, when, as I always point out, politicians pass laws on a regular basis to keep Bahamians "in check" as we say, but they don't hold themselves to the same standards. Rather pathetic.

In any event, the government issued the necessary permits and construction continued apace.

While I understand the protest by the Friends of the Environment, for far too long I have listened to Abaconian's complain of constant power outages and loss of equipment as a result of the unstable electricity (surges) they receive.

So the governments plan to put a new power plant in place is long overdue. Of course I would prefer a private company do it, but the government has long outlawed that of course. That aside for the moment, we have progressed as a society to the point that we need a reliable source of electricity.

So in a nutshell the plant makes sense, even if it is Bunker C.

Coming forward to recent days the government displays it typical hypocrisy where all this is concerned with their recent visit to Copenhagen for the summit.

Let's see if I can recount a summary the events.

First the government has run Bunker C power plants for years.

Second they are in the process of building a new Bunker C power plant in Abaco.

Third they go to Copenhagen to complain about the greenhouse gases that are going to sink The Bahamas!

Our Prime Minister, Mr. Hubert Ingraham has many impressive qualities, but his speech in Copenhagen did not display his honesty and integrity as one would have hoped.

Before he left with his entourage for the international spending spree, he was telling us how much sea level had risen in his home town of Coopers Town, Abaco. Maybe he was there during a spring tide, but when I visited there earlier this year, it was just as I remembered it as a teenager some 40 years ago.

To top it off, to suggest as he did that if the sea level in The Bahamas rose two inches 80% of our islands would be under water, is a stretch.

Oh what a tangled web we weave. We build a Bunker C plant and then complain about the pollution of other countries.

Sometimes the hypocrisy of the political class is astounding.

Maybe we should have learned not to expect any better at this point in our development?

Until other sources of electricity are available that are cheaper and cleaner than Bunker C, at least my friends and family in Abaco should have a reliable source of electricity in a few short months.