Attorney General Allyson Maynard-Gibson expressed sincere regret to the public yesterday on behalf of the government for the delayed release of the Black and Veatch report, which assessed Rubis’ and the government’s response to the oil spill.
“As a government, we understand we should have released the report sooner,” Maynard-Gibson said during a press conference.
She explained that although the report was not released until recently, the recommendations in the report were acted on very early in the process by Rubis at the request of the government and in coordination with the responsible government ministries and the government’s environmental consultants.
The report was released under the auspices of the Office of the Attorney General and according to Maynard-Gibson, the release of the report makes it clear that there was no intention on the part of government to conceal the contents of the report.
After conducting an initial review of the handling of the report’s release, the attorney general said a number of factors contributed to the delay.
The most notable factor, she explained, is the lack of proper coordination and clearly defined protocols between the various government agencies involved in dealing with reports of this nature.
“To mitigate such challenges in the future, government will within 15 days appoint an independent expert who understands and has experience of how government procedures ought to work efficiently, to evaluate and review how this report was handled and to make recommendations to ensure that a similar incident does not happen again,” Maynard-Gibson said.
She assured that the results of this examination will be made public and reported as soon as the expert has completed the assignment.
The attorney general also expressed that Marathon residents and the public deserves to know not only what the government did to address the Rubis spill, but how similar incidents can be prevented in the future.
“We will make sure that going forward you get all the information and support you need,” she said.
