ENERGY Minister Stuart Young on June 21 dismissed remarks by president general of the OWTU Ancel Roget, who said the union would not stand idly by and allow an outside party to buy the Petrotrin refinery.
Noting that the prime minster had already responded to the statement, Young said government will continue to engage interested parties.
“We will continue to push ahead with all the interests that we have in the refinery and we will pursue what needs to be pursued on behalf of the people of Trinidad and Tobago, and not just a handful of people,” he said.
He added that he was not sure how many people supported Roget’s statement.
“What was more telling to me was that the vast majority of unions have stated their position, which is they are not going to be encouraging their membership one way or another, and that they are apolitical.”
On Labour Day (June 19) Roget, while making a call for unions to join with Opposition party the UNC to stand against the PNM, took a hard stance against the sale of the Petrotrin refinery.
“We will not stand idly by and allow anybody to walk in here and take over the refinery…we must be a part of going forward in the operation of that refinery,” he said.
Responding to further questions from reporters, Young said the ministry is awaiting reports from stakeholders involved in the clean-up operations on the Gulfstream, after another report was made of hydrocarbons being detected in Tobago waters.
“We have some world-class experts working on that barge… They know what they are doing.”
Young said companies such as TT Salvage, a local salvage and marine firefighting service provider, were experts at handling oil spills.
Last week a deposit of hydrocarbons was discovered coming from the Gulfstream. The ministry’s technical staff along with TT Salvage and QT Environmental Inc, a global oil spill response consulting company, were said to be ready to deploy contingency measures should the discharge get worse. The ministry said in a release last week that about 30,617 barrels of hydrocarbons being removed to date.
At a press conference in May, Energy Minister Stuart Young said the clean-up had cost about US$12 million up to that time, but estimated the entire exercise could cost US$30 million.
On Friday, another deposit was discovered coming from the shipwreck, about 150-200 metres south of the Cove, raising concern from fishermen in Tobago.
Young said last week’s discovery was because of rough waters and suspected that the latest result was also because of that.
“We must expect in taking out tens of thousands of barrels of hydrocarbons that, unfortunately, it’s on the Atlantic coast with rough waters so there may be some spillage. but it was quickly contained.”
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