A family from Rio Claro, who was forced to temporarily relocate from their home due to a leaking abandoned oil well, has threatened to sue Heritage Petroleum Company and the Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries over their handling of the issue.
Lawyers representing Veronica Findley-Belle, 72, her 75-year-old husband Aldwyn Belle, their daughter Patrice Belle-Guischard, their son-in-law James Guischard, and their 84-year-old relative Shirley Blackie made the legal threat in a pre-action protocol letter sent to the company and the ministry, yesterday.
In the legal correspondence, obtained by Guardian Media, the family’s lawyer, Devi Ramnarine, claimed that the abandoned well was on the family’s property at Tabaquite Road in Rio Claro since her father purchased it (the property) in the 1960s.
In September, last year, the family contacted the company and the ministry after they noticed what appeared to be smoke, emanating from the well, which is located inside their chicken coop.
After conducting tests at the location, the family was advised that they had to temporarily relocate.
The company reportedly offered a beach house in Mayaro or a hotel in San Fernando but the family opted for a cabin at a water park close to their home based on the jobs of Belle-Guischard and her husband and the schools their two minor children are enrolled in.
“This option proved closer to home and the Intended Claimants were operating under the assumption that they would only be away from their home for a short period of 14 days,” she said.
While the company and the ministry claimed that the repairs on the well would be completed in two weeks, it took much longer with the family only being cleared to return to their property in mid-March.
Ramnarine claimed that the company and the ministry committed acts of nuisance by displacing her clients for a protracted period without providing reasonable updates as promised.
While she admitted that her clients signed legal documents permitting the work and absolving the ministry of liability, she contended that they were encouraged to do so without first seeking legal advice.
Ramnarine also alleged that the company and the ministry were negligent in failing to periodically maintain the well to ensure that toxic or noxious fumes could not escape.
Although Ramnarine admitted that her clients held discussions with officials of the company and the ministry over compensation, she claimed that they decided to threaten legal action after the talks broke down.
She contended that the family’s fruit trees, the produce which they sell to supplement their income, were destroyed in repairing the well.
She claimed that her clients had legitimate fears that the structural integrity of their home was compromised.
“The First Intended Defendant (Heritage) failed in its duty to obtain expert advice and to take steps to ensure/prevent the vibrations from the heavy machinery and equipment and dynamite blasting used by the First and Second Intended Defendants from causing physical and/or structural damage to the subject property of the Intended Claimants,” Ramnarine said.
She also contended that while the family has been cleared to return to their property they still do not have unimpeded access as security guards are still stationed there and officials of the Caribbean Industrial Research Institute (Cariri) are still performing testing.
“The Intended Claimants therefore remain in a state of anxiety and confusion as there is no definite certainty that the danger and risks associated with the abandonment works at the leaking oil well has been removed from their property,” she said.
Ramnarine gave the company and the ministry 14 days in which to respond to the legal threat before her client filed a lawsuit.
Guardian Media understands that Ramnarine also sent a letter to Environmental Management Authority (EMA) managing director Hayden Romano requesting an urgent investigation into what transpired.
“Our clients instruct us that they are very concerned, not only about the structural integrity of their home, but about the pollution accompanying the abandonment works, gas emissions, and dynamite blasting which took place on the property and the effect that the same will have on the flora and fauna on and around the subject property,” Ramnarine said.
“Our clients instruct that they are aware that certain trees withered and/or died, presumably as a result of the emanation of gases and general works done,” she added.
The family is also being represented by Gobin Harrypersad and Saira Lakhan.