"I believe that the terms of the proposed agreement, once the value of the benefits can be quantified, will represent an excellent overall outcome for Bermuda."

So said Premier Jennifer Smith after announcing on Friday in the House of Assembly that the base handover talks were over after nearly a decade of negotiations.

The deal is that Bermuda gets $11 million for the restoration of Longbird Bridge, some help with Coast Guard duties from the US and assistance with the training of the Regiment.

The US washes its hands of responsibility and liability for the environmental clean-up of the bases, which now apparently lies with Bermuda, and renounces its ability to re-occupy the former bases in a military crisis.

The latter "surrender of rights" is virtually meaningless in spite of the attempts by the Premier and Government House to put a positive spin on it. Bermuda has had the base lands back for a decade now to all intents and purposes - if it hasn't, what has the Bermuda Land Development Company been doing? And if the US, or any other member of NATO for that matter, wants to use the base or the Airport, all it has to do is to ask Britain, which will doubtless agree, assuming there is a crisis.

That leaves the deal at this: Bermuda gets $11 million to replace Longbird Bridge, which was built and maintained by the US and is in very poor shape. It gets an unspecified amount of assistance from the US Coast Guard, which may or may not include a vessel and an unspecified amount of assistance from the US military for the Regiment.

In return, Bermuda may now have to spend an estimated $55 million to clean up the thousands of gallons of oil in underground caves and tanks at the former bases and will have to continue to clean up asbestos and other contaminants at the former Naval Air Station.

Premier Smith stated that the US has always been reluctant to accept responsibility for the environmental nightmare it has left behind on its bases around the world. If it agreed to clean up the former Naval Annex, it would have to clean up bases from Germany to the Philippines and the cost would be stupendous.

"The United States has categorically refused to pay any financial compensation for environmental damage. We have to accept this position is unlikely to change," Ms Smith said on Friday.

She may not be correct on this point. While the US has been steadfast in not accepting liability for the environmental damage it has caused on its bases, it did arrange a $100 million in-kind, no fault deal with Canada for damage on two Newfoundland bases.

So a similar deal was not unprecedented, and Government seems to be suggesting that the Coast Guard and Regiment assistance may redress the balance.

It is hard to avoid the idea that Bermuda could have secured a better deal, or, if this was all Bermuda was ever going to get, Government should have settled this years ago.

As it is, there is still asbestos in buildings in Southside and who knows what else, while Morgan's Point remains empty, in large part because no developer will take the risk of developing the area until the clean-up is complete.

Beyond that, there is a risk that the oil at Morgan's Point may leak into the lens in Southampton and damage the fresh water supply for the area.

Works Minister Alex Scott said in today's paper that he believes the $55 million price tag put on the clean-up in 1995 may be too high, and it is said (in another unreleased report) that the damage may not be as bad as the 1995 report made out.

If that's the case, then the report should be released. In the meantime, it does not look like a very good deal.