Parliamentary answers prove Government has done nothing in six years to clean up the environmental mess at Morgan's Point, Opposition Leader Grant Gibbons said yesterday.

Written responses from Works and Engineering Minister Ashfield DeVent last week showed no clean-up had been carried out at the contaminated former US Naval base in Southampton, which Dr. Gibbons branded “outrageous”.

Government inaction since it was elected in 1998 had meant Bermuda had missed a huge opportunity to have the 250 acre site developed for housing and other projects, he said.

“It is astounding that we have one of the worst environmental messes on the Island with hundreds of thousands of gallons of jet fuel, Basset's Cave contaminated, and the underground storage of tanks that are leaking out and Government has effectively done nothing over the past five or six years to address that,” said Dr. Gibbons yesterday.

“They've drilled a few more wells in May, probably in response to the Mid-Ocean News article, but it is 250 acres of real opportunity and they have effectively not followed up at all.

“The parliamentary answers demonstrate that after the very poor handling of the negotiations with the Americans when we got $11 million (in lieu of the US cleaning up the former bases), Government has effectively done nothing to address the huge environmental mess up there.

“This is 250 acres of prime property that could be re-used but it can't be used for housing or anything else because of the environmental contamination and it is simply outrageous that they have done nothing over the years.”

When asked how much Government had spent on remediation of Morgan's Point since November, 1998, Mr. DeVent said in a written reply: “No funds have been spent on the actual remediation to date.”

In response to a question about specific plans to dispose of toxic waste and oil at the site, Mr. DeVent said: “The Ministry of Works and Engineering and Bermuda Land Development Company have considered plans from developers which included the remediation of the site.

“It has to be stated that while total remediation can be carried out, the amount of remediation may be a function of the development i.e. full remediation for housing but modified remediation for golf course usage. The Ministry and BLDC are working with the groups to achieve this end.” When asked what Government has done since 1998 to clean up Morgan's Point, including Basset's Cave, Mr. DeVent responded: “The Ministry is working with a local firm who are undertaking degradation (clean up tests) for the material contained in Basset's Cave and jet fuel plume and the initial results appear encouraging and we are awaiting results on further tests.”