A handful of protesters has continued demonstrations at the House of Assembly today.

Eighteen people, with tape over their mouths and holding placards, stood at the entrance to Sessions House urging the Bermuda Government to withdraw the Pathways to Status Bill.

While the demonstrators, which include hunger striker Enda Matthie, are standing or sitting at all of the entrances to the House, they do not appear to be blocking people from entering and exiting. One Bermuda Alliance MP Patricia Gordon-Pamplin is among those who have been allowed in, as have court staff.

Several police officers have also gathered at the building.

It comes after five days of demonstration outside the House came to an end last Thursday, when union leaders and the People’s Campaign agreed to a deal for the legislation to be withdrawn so that recommendations can be made by a consultative group.

The Pathways to Status Bill was not on the order paper for today, and no union or pressure group has openly called for any action.

Slogans today include: “OBA does not care about me.”

Meanwhile, Government has tabled a report investigating the potential and feasibility of bringing liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Bermuda.

While Grant Gibbons, Minister of Economic Development, said that LNG would be more cost effective and produce less harmful emissions, he said concerns have been raised about the manner in which it is extracted, and that it would act as a disincentive to adopting renewable energy due to its lower cost.

“In order to assess the viability and trade-offs relating to the potential deployment of LNG into Bermuda, the Department of Energy’s consultants researched the issues and produced the report you have before you,” Dr Gibbons said.

“The consultants focused on whether LNG could be part of Bermuda’s energy mix and, if so, if that would be the best strategy for its procurement and development, specifically as it relates to the necessary infrastructure development.”

He said the report found the deployment of LNG in Bermuda was feasible if the pricing differences between natural gas and oil are sufficiently disparate and that LNG is available for our island.

He added that the decision to pursue LNG would be up to the private sector, but it would be up to the Government to decide if it would approve such a development.

Turning to the St George’s hotel project, Mr Gibbons said public meetings will be held this year.

Responding to questions by PLP’s Zane DeSilva, Mr Gibbons told the House that developer, Desarrellos Hotelco Group, and the government intended on hosting public meetings in the second or third quarter.

Government have previously stated that they expect groundbreaking on the project to take place later this year.

The acting tourism minister was also questioned about the board of the Bermuda Tourism Authority. He stated that the board had held a total of 24 meetings since its inception in 2013, and that the board members have been paid a total of $229,996 to date.

• For full ministerial statement, click on PDF link under Related Media