With first oil months away…EPA Legislative review yet to start

Apr 08, 2019 News

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By Kiana Wilburg

Guyana is poised to welcome first oil in a matter of months. Yet, the legislative framework for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), a key regulator for the sector, is still outdated.
Confirming this with Kaieteur News recently was EPA’s Head, Dr. Vincent Adams. The Environmental Engineer turned on to the job last year October and since that time; he has been struggling to overhaul the inherently weak systems of the new office. Dr. Adams who is a strong advocate for robust legislation for the sector acknowledged that this area has not received his attention as yet as his plate is full with a number of dire issues regarding oversight for the oil sector.
He also agreed that the legislation needs to be reviewed and appropriately amended while supporting the calls by some for the new laws to contain hefty fines for oil spills.

International consultants on this subject have also called for governments of emerging oil producing nations like Guyana to pay attention to the effects offshore drilling activities can have on the environment. The Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations (IDDRI) for example, has pointed out that when it comes to environmental safety of offshore drilling activities, several risks should be given apt attention by regulators.
It cited three of these to be a risk of inappropriate, fragmented or nonexistent regulations, leading to uneven environmental protection and the risk of environmental dumping; a risk of non-implementation of national and/or regional agreements if capacities are not strengthened; and a risk of self-regulation by voluntary private norms of the major companies.
Further to this, the Institute warned that the offshore sector is made up of companies, which are less accountable and do not pay the same attention to the protection of the environment.
As such, the Institute advocated for liability and compensation rules or legislation to be implemented. In the absence of this, it said that States risk partial or non-payment of damages in the absence of clear rules, and a risk of insolvency given the lack of financial capacity of many small operators or subsidiaries to pay for large claims.
But even if all the regulations and legislation are in place, the Institute stressed that they would not be able to deliver desired changes if regulating agencies have no means – e.g. technical, financial, and human – to implement them.
EPA LACKS FUNDS
It would seem that the EPA finds itself in this very situation. In fact, the Agency’s 2019 budget does not cater for oil preparations. This was confirmed with the EPA’s Head, Dr. Vincent Adams.
The EPA Head told this newspaper that he does not have the human or financial resources needed for the proper management of the oil sector. In fact, the agency does not even have the human resources needed to be an effective regulatory body. In this regard, Dr. Adams said that currently, he has a staff of 97 officers. But for the EPA to be efficient, it needs a total of 262.
Further to this, Dr. Adams said that the agency is continuously borrowing the equipment of other ministries to do its work. It is also unable to do proper monitoring due to its poor fleet of vehicles.
He said, “Right now, I have $624M for 2019, but that did not take our preparations for oil into consideration. When I was brought on a few months ago, the budget preparation for the agency was already at an advanced stage. My first task when I came on was to do an assessment of the Agency and see where it is…And it needs major restructuring.”
Dr. Adams was supposed to approach the government for a supplementary in this regard. But the Finance Minister, Winston Jordan has said that this cannot be afford at this time. In his last interview with Kaieteur News, the Minister said, “In addition to the subvention voted by the National Assembly, the EPA can raise its own revenues consistent with its Act. I am on record as indicating that the fees charged by the EPA are ‘chicken feed’ having been there for over two decades.”
Be that as it may, Jordan said that the Government stands ready to support and strengthen the EPA, to enable it to execute its mandate effectively, especially in light of oil and gas and related activities.
FORENSIC AUDIT REVEALS
The issue of EPA being woefully understaffed was raised in a forensic audit report that was done by Chartered Accountant, Anand Goolsarran since 2015. But since then, nothing was done about it.
In the audit that was commissioned by the APNU+AFC administration, Goolsarran said that the agency needs an additional 165 officers to “fully and effectively” execute its mandate. He noted for example that EPA’s Compliance Department has 27 officers, but needs an additional 63 to be effective.

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