Government submits claims for Tobago oil-spill compensation, fishermen can apply individually

FINANCE Minister Colm Imbert and Energy Minister Stuart Young have said that the government and the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) can expect reimbursement for expenditure incurred as a result of the oil spill which occurred off Tobago's southeast coast on February 7.

They were speaking before the Standing Finance Committee of the House of Representatives approved a $2,580,255,500 budgetary allocation to the assembly on October 16.

The oil spill was caused by an overturned barge, the Gulfstream, which was found lodged on a reef and leaking bunker fuel off the coast of Cove. The barge was being towed by another vessel, The Solo Creed, when it got into difficulty. The owners of either vessel have yet to be identified.

Young reminded MPs, "The State has reached out and succeeded in its request to a body called the IOPC (International Oil Pollution Compensation Funds) which is an international body that deals with oil spills.

"They have acceded to our submission that TT, and in particular the oil spill in Tobago, should fall within that IOPC fund."

Imbert reminded MPs that the THA received a sum $50 million in the mid-year review in May to help with the oil-spill clean-up.

The IOPC, Young continued, has accepted and agreed that the government's legitimate and reasonable expenditure will be reimbursed by it.

He said, "That of course includes claims from Tobago and the THA."

Young said claims are already being submitted to the IOPC.

"We have made two submissions to them already that are being processed."

Young said, "I will lead a team in the next few weeks to the IOPC (in the UK) to continue that discourse and to provide them with them with the further updates on the processing of our payment."

An IOPC team, he continued, was in Tobago last week.

"At this stage, they have indicated that all is in order and that we the taxpayers can expect to receive reimbursement for legitimate and reasonable claims."

Imbert said he met with THA Finance Secretary Petal-Ann Roberts before the 2024/2025 budget was finalised.

He added that he advised Roberts that "claims (from the THA) should be sent to the Ministry of Finance for onward transmission to the Minister of Energy who would then send those claims to this international oil-spill fund."

Fishermen can apply for compensation directly

Pointe-a-Pierre MP David Lee asked how Tobago fishermen who were affected by the spill could make claims for damages.

Imbert reminded him of the $50 million allocation to the THA which he mentioned earlier in the meeting.

"The process for recovery of damages and losses and so on by persons over there (Tobago) is through the THA. They will make the claims to the THA. The THA will pass the claims on to the Ministry of Finance. The Ministry of Finance will pass them on to the Ministry of Energy who will submit the claims to the IOPC. That's the process."

Imbert said, "It is not a process whereby the Minister of Finance, for example, is settling claims and so on."

He added this was not his role or the ministry's.

"We are simply providing the funds and this is a mechanism to provide the funds."

Young said people such as Tobago fishermen could make claims directly to the IOPC if they wished.

"The IOPC has appointed a claims manager in Trinidad. That claims managers' representatives went to Tobago. I believe it may have also been in collaboration with, or at least the consent of members of the THA and they have indicated to the fishermen the process (to submit claims)."

He said, "The IOPC is an international body that deals with thousands of these types of claims across the world."

Young recalled that when he visited the IOPC's office in the UK in April, the IOPC was dealing with 3,000 applications from thousands of Filipino fishermen who said they were affected by an oil spill near Manila.

The meeting started 35 minutes late as Imbert and other MPs were tardy in arriving at the Red House.

Couva South MP Rudranath Indarsingh asked if the PNM had collapsed and if the late start of the meeting was related to the cancellation of the party's convention that was scheduled for November 17.

The PNM issued a statement announcing the cancellation on October 11, one day after the Prime Minister hinted in the budget debate in the House that this debate could be his last.

"I don't know how much longer I will have in this Parliament, but I have done my duty and I have kept the course," Dr Rowley said.

Rowley first hinted at retiring from electoral politics after the PNM won the August 2020 general election.

To date, Rowley has never officially announced he would not stand for re-election in 2025.

When the meeting began at 10.35 am, Indarsingh asked PNM MPs if they had regrouped or just arrived.

Imbert, who is also a PNM deputy political leader, advised Indarsingh to cease and desist.