| Grantee | Waterkeeper Alliance ↗ |
| Grant Amount | $50,000 |
| Duration | One Year |
We are at a pivotal point in Bahamian history. The Bahamas Petroleum Company (BPC) has announced its intention to begin offshore oil drilling in our pristine waters in a matter of months. Prime Minister Hubert Minnis has one last chance to protect our nation's economy and precious natural resources from the devastating ravages of oil pollution before it is too late.
Recently, BPC has announced that after 48 days of drilling in Bahamian waters, they did not find commercial quantities of oil. This further proves oil drilling is not worth the risk to our Tourism and Fisheries economies. The locally established “Our Islands, Our Future”(OIOF) coalition is running an aggressive advocacy, stakeholder/ community engagement, and public relations campaign to convince the Prime Minister to revoke or not renew their leases to BPC.
Two key factors that have proven successful in stopping past bad development in emergency situations are: foreign pressure, and litigation through a localized “Judicial Review” (JR) process. All elements of this legal strategy will be carefully coordinated with the OIOF coalition’s communications and advocacy efforts. It is likely, for example, that discovery produced through the JR will provide new information OIOF for both advocacy efforts and future JRs which can be used in influencing the government toward a “stop drilling” decision.
