While we knew it was important to celebrate small victories, we continued working knowing that anything was likely to happen with the usual suspects - and boy were we right.
A few things have happened since our last update to you, and we will do our best in summarizing the salient points.
1. Let's not forget that on 8 February 2021, BPC announced that after 48 days of drilling in the beautiful waters of the Bahamas, they did not find commercially viable quantities of oil.
2. Our partner's Application for Judicial Review in the Bahamian Courts was granted, however on 22 January the Court gave BPC permission to join the legal action. At the same Hearing BPC's lawyer asked the Court for permission to present to the Court its case on why the Applicants should pay a sum of $200,000 (plus VAT) to the Court before the matter could move to trial!! Talk about being "priced out of justice"
3. We knew something fishy was happening in our waters, and it was not marine life. We were getting reports, pictures and messages about a huge drill ship sailing around the waters north of New Providence. So, weeks after BPC announced it had found no 'commercial' quantities of oil at the Perseverance Well #1 the Stena IceMax was still in Bahamian waters.
4. Now, unfortunately, as we had predicted, this dirty and dangerous oil company is back at it. BPC is now looking for ways to have its licences extended. The deadline for this to be considered by the Bahamas government is on 31 March - this coming Wednesday! We are happy that the Minister shared his views on the renewals, but we need to keep the pressure on government officials to officially reject BPC's request and to place a permanent ban on offshore oil drilling in Bahamian waters!
So here is where we need your help:
---> Help Save The Bays and Waterkeepers Bahamas to raise the necessary funds (even if its $10) to continue its legal proceedings. We should all work in unison in this regard, so let's stand with them. Also, encourage the help and support from those in your network to give as little or as much as they can. Legal proceedings are extremely costly, however, this matter is of global importance and will be case law for businesses and NGOs like ours to use as in their defense and along with any anti-oil campaigns.
---> Get more petition signatures! We need as many as possible - we are now a little over 95,000 signatures. Let's get that to 100,000 signatures before 31 March! The more signatures we receive, the more the message gets to others. This solidifies our support and reminds those that sign that they are not alone.
We appreciate the support from each one of you!