Moonilal: Now a Paria oil rig has fallen down

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Gail Alexander

The Occupational Safety and Health Authority’s (OSHA) report into the recent tragedy at Paria Trading Company Limited must be made public and Heritage Petroleum must explain how a 2,000-pound oil rig fell down last week.

UNC MP Dr Roodal Moonilal made this call at last night’s UNC forum meeting. He said after the incident at Paria occurred February 24, OSHA made a statement on March 11 about it.

“This is untenable. We also demand to know the names of the OSHA officials who are conducting this investigation. Did OSHA seek to recruit any local or international experts to assist with this investigation? If not, why not?”

Moonilal added, “Information coming to us suggest another diabolical accident in the oil sector occurred. This one they’re attempting to cover up…We are told that just a few days ago, last Friday, at Forest Reserve in south Trinidad on the compound of Heritage Petroleum Company Limited an entire rig fall down!! Again a contractor is involved under the supervision of a state company.”

Displaying pictures, Moonilal added, “A Cooper 250 Workover Rig just fall down. This weighs around 2,000 pounds, it fell down from a height of over 60 feet. Had there been workers on a platform there, usually there are 4-5 workers, they’d all be dead. We call on Heritage’s CEO Arlene Chow, to state whether this incident took place?”

Moonilal also took aim at Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley’s boast that he was the ‘high public official’ who intervened influencing former Police Service Commission chairman Bliss Seepersad to withdraw the merit list for Police Commissioner from the President “and in so doing violate the constitution.”

Moonilal added, “Rowley and Bliss Seepersad should be investigated for alleged misbehaviour in public office and the President, having knowledge of this interference and doing nothing – should resign.”

“Worse, is that Seepersad acted on advice or instructions from Rowley, without the agreement of the rest of the PolSC members. She became a one-woman agent of the PNM doing Rowley’s bidding.”

“Rowley took matters into his own hands and committed the ultimate act of misbehaviour in public office – interfering directly in a process so important that it is detailed in the highest law of the land. His behaviour is illegal and unacceptable, as is the acquiesce of the President.”

He said Rowley couldn’t say he passed on reports to the PolSC and that was his duty.

“If you have information relating to allegations of criminal conduct you pass that on to the police not the PolSC. The PoLSC is not the police…He undermined the work of an independent constitutional authority and in so doing can be accused of misbehaviour in public office.”