Kralendijk- Island Governor Edison Rijna wants a full report on an incident which occurred earlier this week at the fuel storage at Curoil Hato wich could have left the island without gasoline and -in the worst case scenario- without power.

The Governor, who is responsible for safety and public order, wants to find out whether those involved have acted correctly in order to prevent risks for employees, local residents and the environment. Since the bi-annual inspection of the Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate (ILT), Rijkswaterstaat (RWS) and the Rotterdam-Rijnmond Safety Region (VRR) was already scheduled from 14 to 16 April, the incident will be investigated by this inspection team.

At around 11:30 am on April 13, the contents of all three storage tanks at Curoil got contaminated with a mixture of petrol and diesel as a result of the use of the wrong hoses. The subsequent emptying and cleaning of the tanks required extra precautions, for which consultation was held with the commander of the Caribbean Netherlands Fire Department and the Curoil’s fire brigade.

Vulnerable

Although the incident ended relatively well, according Rijna it does underscore how vulnerable the fuel supply on the island is, as long as Bonaire depends on emergency facilities. “Rapid action has prevented worse, the production of electricity has not been directly endangered and the gas stations were not left without fuel.

This incident proves that the use of the current emergency facilities should not be used any longer than strictly necessary, especially from a safety point of view. “The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy and the Public Entity are working on a structural (safe) solution.

The state-owned subsidiary Bonaire Brandstof Terminals BV will build two new storage locations that meet the highest safety requirements.