Activist: Oban will bring “death and destruction” to GB

Activist: Oban will bring “death and destruction” to GB
Joe Darville.

Environmental activist Joe Darville said Friday that Oban Energies will bring nothing but “death and destruction” to Grand Bahama, as he blasted the Minnis Administration for being “seduced” by the foreigners.

Appearing as a guest on ‘Real Talk Live’ with host Ortland Bodie, Darville said, he “curses” the project and he “prays it is unsuccessful”.

He said it was “colossal mistake” for the government to approve such a project in an area that boasts of having one of the most pristine environments in the country.

Darville claimed that the oil being refined by Oban produces one of the most poisonous gases that can cause cancer and other respiratory problems.

“We have the most pristine marine areas in this country, stretching for miles and miles, running east and west. If an oil refinery is going to be placed in east Grand Bahama all of the pollution will come straight down over the entire Grand Bahama and a lot of people don’t realize that,” he said.

“Over the last 40 years the United States, on the eastern seaboard, has not allowed one single refinery to be built but we let them in here. Now you have Oban refining crude oil. That is the worst thing you can pull out the body and guts of mother earth.

“This stuff produces one of the most poisonous gasses you can ever imagine and its smell like a pile of rotten eggs that have been rotting for a month. This stuff causes cancer, you breathe in that you will have all sorts of lung disease, respiratory diseases and so on and I am not being dramatic I am being real.”

Darville said, any one who claims they care about the environment should protest this “abomination”.

“Everyone should get involved,” he said.

“This foreigner is taking advantage of Grand Bahamians. He knows nothing about the area and is seducing residents who are pinning for jobs. They seduced our leaders only to bring death and damnation and destruction.

“I cry shame.

“This is wrong. This was conceived from some nightmare in the pit of hell and should go right back to the pit of hell. That’s where it belongs. This will destroy the ecosystem. It is sacrilegious to destroy the belly and bosom of mother earth.”

Darville’s comments came one day after an explosive town hall meeting in East Grand Bahama Thursday night, as Oban Energies President Satpal Dhunna, for the first time addressed residents on the proposed $5.5 billion oil refinery and storage facility.