Statia people hit the streets in protest to NuStar expansion plans - photo's

Photos Olga Schats

Statia people hit the streets in protest to NuStar expansion plans - Dutch press release

Om 15.00 uur vanmiddag startte op de Congo Preserve een protestmars van bijna 200 inwoners van St. Eustatius richting de ‘Governments Office’, het locale gemeentehuis. Zij protesteerden tegen de uitbreidingsplannen van oliegigant NuStar in ‘The Farm’, een locatie rijk aan zeldzame flora, fauna en archeologische artefacten. Bovendien bevindt het terrein waar NuStar wil uitbreiden zich dichtbij het centrum van Oranjestad en vrezen de inwoners voor hun gezondheid en veiligheid.

De protestmars was een gezamenlijk intiatief van de grassroot-bewegingen SEAD en Statia Roots en de stichting Statia Safe and Sound.

Kritiek op overheid
Al maandenlang wordt op het eiland, met 3600 inwoners en half zo groot als Schiermonnikoog, geprotesteerd tegen de uitbreiding. Er is veel kritiek op de locale overheid vanwege de uiterst beperkte berichtgeving en het ontbreken van een inspraakverordening. Openbaarheid van bestuur is eerder uitzondering dan regel op St. Eustatius. Wat de inwoners rest zijn ingezonden brieven in de plaatselijke krant, petities, discussieprogramma’s op televisie, bezwaarschriften en pogingen de interesse te wekken van de internationale media.

Jong en oud, zwart en wit
Dat het de Statianen hoog zit, blijkt uit de samenstelling van de stoet. Moeders met baby’s, hoogbejaarde inwoners met stok, wit, zwart, Europese en Caribische Nederlanders. “Dit is een historische gebeurtenis” zegt Paul Spanner, voorzitter van Statia Roots Foundation, “Nooit eerder zijn Statianen de straat op gegaan in het besef dat ze het recht hebben om tegen de eilandsoverheid te demonstreren.” De demonstranten droegen spandoeken, protestborden en riepen leuzen als: “No tanks, no bombs, no pollution”, “Tanks No Thanks”, “Democratie of oliegarchie?” en “Money for them, pollution for we”. Langs de route stonden vele belangstellenden waaronder locale politici.

Ontvangst protestbrief en foto’s
Bij aankomst bij de Governments Office nam waarnemend gezaghebber de heer Louis Brown de aangeboden protestbrief en foto’s in ontvangst. De serie foto’s representeerde de mogelijke gevaren die de uitbreiding met zich meebrengt, brandende tanks, brandende schepen, een verlaten strand, met hierbij steeds het onderschrift “We don’t want that”.

Oliereus op mini-eiland
SEAD-coördinator Kenneth Cuvalay: “NuStar zweert bij hun strenge veiligheidsvoorschriften. Maar nog geen maand geleden, lekte er uit een oliepijp bij NuStar-terminal Aberdeen 500 vaten diesel over een terrein van 2 km2. Als dat hier gebeurt, stroomt het hele centrum onder de olie. Om over brand nog maar te zwijgen. Dat is toch gekkenwerk.“

Nederlandse overheid houdt zich afzijdig
“Er zijn miljarden gemoeid met de uitbreiding”, vertelt Cuvalay. ”Olieop- en overslag is booming business. De locale overheid en NuStar spelen handjeklap en de Nederlandse overheid stelt zich op als Pontius Pilate; zich stiekem verheugend op miljoenen extra belastinginkomsten van NuStar. De bevolking van St. Eustatius staat er alleen voor, met het schrikbeeld van 31 nieuwe olietanks voor ogen, 35 meter hoog , vol in het zicht, op nog geen 500 meter van Oranjestad”.

Media coverage on historic Peaceful Citizin's March, Statia, March 16th 2012

YouTube

• Public Protest March 16th 2012 (Video 1).mp4
  
• Public Protest March 16th 2012 Video 2 
• Public Protest March 16th 2012 (Video 3).mp4 

Newspapers / websites

•  NuStar blijft Kamerleden zorgen baren
  Antilliaans Dagblad 20 maart 2012
• Vragen GroenLinks over besluit NuStar 
  RNW 20 maart 2012
• St. Eustatius in actie tegen olieopslag 
  De Volkskrant maandag 19 maart 2012
• Demonstratie Statia tegen uitbreiding NuStar
  Antilliaans Dagblad maandag 19 maart 2012
• Sint Eustatius demonstreert tegen Nustar
  Radio Nederland Wereldomroep
• More than 200 demonstrate against terminal expansion
  The Daily Herald, St. Maarten zaterdag 17 maart 2012
• Groot protest tegen Nustar op St.Eustatius 
  Versgeperst Curacao
• “Money for them, pollution for we”
  Caribseek News
• Plans For New NuStar Oil Terminal Trigger A First In St. Eustatius History
  Caribseek News
• Statia in alle staten: protestmars tegen uitbreiding olietanks op mini-eiland
  De Telegraaf, vrijdag 16 maart 2012, pag. T5

People - profit - planet

From the Dutch media we learned that NuStar has hired the former Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Bernard Bot, to lobby for its interests in The Hague (see also https://www.sp.nl/column/ronald-van-raak/2011/bel-ben-bot). So much for NuStar's "open and honest communication" they claim they're so committed to.

We also learned that Mr. Bot is working for the company Meines & Partners in The Hague. Meines & Partners is a company that states on its website to feel socially responsible. In other words, they follow the principles of Corporate Social Responsibility (in Dutch Maatschappelijk Verantwoord Ondernemen). The Triple P approach is often used to describe these principles: People, Profit, Planet.

Corporate Social Responsibility can be described as a way of doing business aimed at economical results (Profit), with respect for social aspects (People), within the ecological conditions (Planet).

Lobbying for NuStar, in SEAD's opinion, only serves the P for Profit. The story that Mr. Bot has for the Dutch MPs must be really convincing: NuStar has built a 3.8 barrel facility in Amsterdam, and it hires Dutch company Verwater to build their tanks in Amsterdam, St. Eustatius.

But we really wonder how the People and the Planet are served by NuStar's expansion in the Farm area. SEAD has asked Meines & Partners to give some clarification on this matter.

Holland to benefit from NuStar's expansion

As stated on several occasions, the St. Eustatius government is in favor of NuStar expansions plans. Economical development of the island is the main argument. Commissioner Van Putten in The Daily Herald of September 9, 2011: "The island must see a significant contribution in order for the Executive Council to give its fiat to any expansion plan".  Van Putten was on a working visit in the Netherlands to discuss the NuStar proposal with the Dutch Ministries.

The Dutch Minister of Kingdom Affairs made it very clear that St. Eustatius government is the one to decide on the expansion. Given that fact, it is very interesting to follow NuStar's lobby in The Hague. NuStar seems to pay frequent visits to members of parliament in The Hague, and former Minister of foreign affairs, Ben Bot himself is one of the lobbyist trying to win them over.

So what's in it for the Dutch?

NuStar and its predecessors always paid very low taxes on the island. Since 10 October 2010, the island of St. Eustatius no longer is part of the Netherlands Antilles, but became a public entity of the Netherlands. One of the first things the Dutch changed in St. Eustatius was the tax system. The main increase in tax revenue of NuStar will go directly to The Hague, as a local council member states in Statia News. 

St. Eustatius got extra funding from Holland for education and health care. In other important areas, local government is very much on its own. The government faces huge problems according to the same council member:

• "Government cannot pay decent salaries, which makes it very hard to attract quality personnel. Also many of our locals don’t want to come back home because of this.
•  Government buildings are almost beyond repair and not suitable to work in. There is no money on the budget for maintenance.
• All our roads and other infrastructure are in a deplorable state and need urgent attention.
• There is not one cent for investment. Instead there is a multi-million dollar investment deficit with their roads, electricity supply system."

With an annual "free resource" of 7,4 million dollar coming from Holland, it is impossible for St. Eustatius government to get the island's infrastructure on an acceptable level.

So this is actually a very smart move of Dutch government. They collect the money and leave local government to deal with angry citizens, ravaged eco-systems and destroyed archeological sites.

Voices of Protest

"How many of you are there?" people often ask SEAD. That's hard to say because SEAD is a grass-root movement and doesn't have members. What we do have is support from people all over the world. People that encourage us, advice us, and help us in many ways to do what we're doing.

We are also the voice of many people in Statia who can't speak out in public because repercussions would be severe.

SEAD meets every Saturday night at the Congo Preserve in Statia where all people are welcome to join the discussion or just listen.

In the St. Maarten newspaper The Daily Herald a lot of Statia people voice their opinion on the NuStar's expansion plans in a letter to the editor.

• Her Majesty Queen Beatrix on Statia? by James Russell (September 5, 2011
• Time is running out for St. Eustatius by Joe F. Taylor (September 3, 2011)
• You reap what you sow by  Ernie Simmons (August 31, 2011)
• Silence of government on NuStar expansion
• Selling our souls to NuStar?
• What kind of Statia do you want?
• St. Eustatius’ (Statia’s) future on sale to a high bidder? 

Statia News is another local news source where people can express their opinion or read about others.If you want to send in your contribution, mail to info@statianews.com or ask if you can be added to their mailing list.

NuStar's True Color

An Investment in Statia's Future? (photo from Nustar website)

If you read the text on NuStar’s website and the contributions of its representative in Statia News, you would almost think that all opponents of the expansion are out of their mind. NuStar just wants to make Statia a better place, give people jobs, provide for all foundations and bring prosperity and glory to the island. If you’re one of those people, please take a moment to grasp the following.

NuStar’s true goal: profit and growth

Let’s look at some facts: NuStar is the second largest oil terminal operator in the US, and the fourth largest in the world; NuStar is a listed company on the New York Stock Exchange and recently entered the Fortune 500 list (annual ranking of America’s largest corporations); the figures that got them there: revenues 4,403.1 million, profits 239 million over the year 2010. Source: http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2011/full_list/.

The ultimate goal of NuStar, as every business, is to make money. To continue to make money, businesses need to grow and expand. So does NuStar. So it can’t come as a surprise, to read on NuStar’s website that part of its mission is: “aggressively pursuing growth opportunities, both domestically and internationally”. Source: http://www.nustarenergy.com/company/Pages/OurMission.aspx.

Following more facts: NuStar holds 65 terminal and storage facilities around the world. Measured by storage capacity, Statia terminal is by far the largest of all (13 million barrels). Statia’s storage capacity alone is just as big as 25% of all 55 NuStar’s terminals in the United States (50.6 barrels). Source: NuStar Annual Report 2010. So at this point in time, it’s fair to say that Statia is NuStar’s crown jewel, a major source of income.

But there’s more. In the transcripts of a NuStar Investors Conference, we read that international storage business has been a very big growth area for NuStar. Within that storage business, Statia has been a focal point for NuStar’s growth and will continue to be: “We bought that terminal, it was 11 million barrels; it's up to 13 million barrels. We're building another million now to get it to 14 million. And we think the potential is much, much larger than that in terms of the customer interest. So you will continue to see growth CapEx and growth in St. Eustatius.” Source:  NuStarGP Holdings LLC at NAPTP MLP Investor Conference, May 26, 2011. So it’s fair to say that NuStar expansion plans are not going to stop with the one in the Farm area.  Statia is NuStar’s guarantee for growth.

NuStar’s true interest in Statia: low taxes and ultimate transshipment point

Why NuStar loves Statia? Statia was a bargain to start with: we can only guess how and for how much money NuStar predecessor has bought land on Statia. Where else does a company enjoy special tax agreements, no anchorage fees, find cheap labor, and an almost absence of unions, environmental groups, and environmental law control bodies? But most significant, where else in the world would NuStar find a place that is located at the crossroads of major shipping routes and that takes the biggest ships in the world? Statia is one of the major transshipment points in the world, and that makes it one of NuStar’s most profitable assets. Exactly like in the 18^th century for the West-Indische Compagnie. And Statia’s government is giving it to Nustar for a mere pittance; afraid it may pack and leave.

NuStar’s tactics: dollars and deception

Now let’s go a little bit deeper into NuStar’s rhetoric. We already saw how valuable Statia is to NuStar. To keep all these huge interests safe, it is important for NuStar to get (and keep) local government and community on its side. How does NuStar do that? By using techniques of deception: camouflage, lots of euphemisms, overemphasizing its truthfulness, hedging their statements, and marginalizing or just ignoring the negative issues. 

1. Deception by camouflage

NuStar is camouflaging itself as a good corporate citizen by throwing a few thousand dollars around (crumbs compared to the millions they make each year), and call that “heavily investing in the island” and “serving the Statia community”. They make it sound like the whole $ 477 million is an investment in the island instead of in the company itself. NuStar also wants us to believe that it ‘beautifies our island’ by supporting Stenapa. Painfully quiet Stenapa.

2. Deception by overemphasizing truthfulness

NuStar is emphasizing over and over how it is committed to an open and honest dialogue, and what a good corporate citizen it is. Notice for example how Mr. Smith copies and pastes large amounts of propagandistic text from NuStar’s expansion website with every chance he gets. 

NuStar is also overemphasizing how safety is its top priority. Fact is that most accidents are caused by human failure, and that no safety regulation will protect us in case of earthquakes or major hurricanes. Remember Japan, Fukushima? And what safety regulation is able to evacuate all Statia’s inhabitants in case something happens? Which surrounding fire department will come to assist in case of major fire? How is Statia’s hospital going to handle casualties on a large scale? We will be trapped on a small little island with only the ocean to flee into. We find that a very disturbing thought. 

3. Deception by using euphemisms and hedging statements

When NuStar talks about risks, impact and dangers, it uses the following phrases a lot: “as much as possible”, “we are going to great length”, “low impact”, “minimize risks”. E.g. “minimizing the tanks’ impact on the island’s scenic views”, “the risk of emissions and vapors are extremely low”. It all sounds very nice, but in fact is meaningless because the risks, danger, impact etc. are still there. NuStar even thinks we’re stupid enough to believe that by painting the tanks and planting a few trees, we won’t see them anymore. According to NuStar, they will be “integrated into the landscape”. Are they serious? 

4. Deception by marginalizing and ignoring

In all NuStar’s communication, you will see that they marginalize or just ignore issues like pollution, risks of oil spill accidents, close distance to schools, damage to eco-systems, destruction of cultural heritage, impact on tourism growth, no access to the beach and dive sites at Smoke Alley. 

NuStar’s True Color

So is NuStar the devil? No. NuStar is a multibillion dollar multinational that simply needs to keep its stockholders a lot happier than the community of Statia. But luckily for NuStar, it only takes some deceptive rhetoric and a few thousand dollars to keep Statia’s government, organizations and community happy.

Main point of discussion: economical development

A lot of people already voiced their opinion on NuStar’s expansion plans. We think that nobody, not even NuStar, is able to deny that there will be an increase in danger, damage, and destruction in several areas. NuStar is desperately trying to pull the wool over our eyes, but luckily a lot of people have sense enough to see through this.

But there is another fact we cannot deny. And that is that NuStar is the largest private employer on the island, and the expansion will definitely bring more economical activity. That is on the short term. The question is how –in the long run – this will benefit the island. We already made clear that NuStar needs to expand and that it is using deceptive tactics to reach that goal. How far are we willing to let NuStar expand? How much more power are we willing to voluntarily give them? How will Statia benefit if our hotels, shops, rental houses, apartments, and cars for the most part depend on one sole purchaser?

Would it really be such a good idea, as Mr. Sneek proposes, to let Nustar help our government fix our roads, relocate the harbor, and be involved in electricity production? Our fear should not be whether NuStar one day will pack and leave, but how much more NuStar is going to expand. The more they grow, the more people, businesses and government will depend on them. Eventually, NuStar is going to make all decisions, and we can’t bite because there’s no other hand that feeds us. St. NuStar, the Crude Oil Rock.

Determine our own future

We as a people fought almost 200 years for our freedom. We suffered tremendous pain and made great sacrifices to finally gain the right to determine our own future and our own destiny. It is more than sad to witness what we are doing with these rights. With a shortsighted, lazy attitude and dollar signs in our eyes, a lot of us, including our government, are willing to put Statia’s future solely into the hands of a foreign multinational.

Why can’t we work just a little bit longer and a little bit harder, polish our unique selling points (nature, identity, cultural heritage) and shine? It may not come just as easy or fast, but at least we can look into our children’s eyes and tell them, for better or for worse, we kept control over our own destiny.

DP Chairman Accuses Statia's Government of Lack of Transparency

In today's Daily Herald, Chairman of St. Eustatius Democratic Party Ernie Simmons, expresses some harsh words about the ruling coalition partners in Statia's government. Among other things, he accuses the coalition of a lack of transparency concerning the NuStar expansion plans. He states:

"Three political leaders of parties are meeting privately with NUstar regarding the expansion plans of the Statia Oil Terminal. No information regarding these meetings is made available to the Island Council. No one seems to know what they are discussing, what are their wishes and demands and what promises are being made." Read the full article