Former Trade and Industry Minister, Leslie Miller, says he is waiting to see if environmentalists  in the Bahamas would object to  a Liquified Natutal Gas (LNG) Power Plant to be constructed at Clifton Pier, near to the prestigious Lyford Cay. 

Last week officials of Bahamas Power and Light (BPL) announced that Shell North America will construct the plant and sell the generated power to BPL.

Mr. Miller said some years ago when the Christie Administration considered  the construction of an LNG Plant at Ocean Cay, near  Bimini, the environmentalists had major objections. He weighed in on the government’s decision to introduce liquified natural gas or  LNG to The Bahamas, a move he has  pushed for years, particularly when he held the position of Chairman of Bahamas Electricity Company (BEC) now Bahamas Power and Light (BPL).

Appearing as a guest on Love 97’s afternoon talk show On Point with host Wendall Jones, Miller explained why the deal at the time fell through.

“We had a 20-year contract with AES, that contract called for the people of The Bahamas to receive $1.2 billion dollars in revenues over 20 years,” he said.

“In addition to that they were going retro-fit 65 per cent of BEC’s apparatus at Clifton to enable us to use lng,” he added.

“They were also getting a tug, which is now used in Haiti, to assist us with getting the LNG from the Cay to bring here to New Providence, right we had it made. 

“They were also going to put in a quarter million dollars every year into BTVI, this was the thing, now 100 houses in North Bimini, and the average salary of that plant was going to be $40,000 a year and above,” he said.

“The government which I was apart of, the former prime minister, allowed one or two people of colour in this country to just scuttle the whole thing.

“Because they went on the internet and came up with a bunch or garbage of what was supposed to blow up, the loss of life and everything else and all it was, was just lies after lies after lies,” he added.

“But because of their color, the Bahamian people bought into it and that program we will never see the likes of that again as long as we live.”

Mr. Miller in pushing for  LNG  to be introduced in The Bahamas, touted the millions of dollars in revenue The Bahamas could pull in.

Three companies – had even submitted preliminary proposals.

Just recently Bahamas Power and Light executives revealed that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Shell North America- said to help reduce the cost of power bills and reduce power outages.

Last week  BPL Chairman, Donavan Moxey told reporters that the move marks the culmination of efforts over the years to improve the reliability of electricity in New Providence.

There’s also the renewed promise of a decrease in power costs – a longstanding vexing issue for its consumers.

BPL’s partnership with Shell North America is also expected to lead to little to no blackouts.

According to BPL CEO, Whitney Heastie, that new power plant will use liquified natural gas which he says has no greater risk than fuels used every day like gasoline and diesel, but it does, he said, provide a number of advantages.

Shell North America will construct a new gas fired power plant in the Clifton Pier area.

The expected completion date is 2020.

As for BPL’s deal with Shell, Mr. Miller several months ago said it was bad for the country.