Understaffed and underfunded EPA will always be at ExxonMobil’s mercy-Conservationist

Jun 23, 2020 News

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By Kiana Wilburg

Guyana has been an oil-producing state for over six months yet the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) which is tasked with ensuring ExxonMobil’s operations are not a clear and present danger to the nation’s environment is severely understaffed and underfunded. In such circumstances, conservationist Annette Arjoon-Martins recently noted that the EPA would always be at the mercy of the American oil giant.

Arjoon, known for her staunch environmental advocacy protection, made these and other remarks during an appearance on Kaieteur Radio’s show, Guyana’s Oil and You. There, she was asked to comment on the preparedness of the EPA to monitor the growing oil industry. Arjoon-Martins was keen to note that if the EPA were given adequate resources such as those required to properly scrutinize Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA), then Guyana would not be in a much better position.
“I recognize,” Arjoon-Martins said, “that while we had Dr. Vincent Adams take over the helm of the EPA and he brings years of experience, without the resources to get the assessments he needs, he will always be hamstrung. He has also been honest about the challenges he faces but unless we have an EPA that is staffed and resourced, we will always have an agency that is at the mercy of ExxonMobil.”
In agreement with her was international lawyer, Melinda Janki who stated that the agency is totally unprepared. Janki said that the EPA has an impossible task to monitor what ExxonMobil is doing offshore Guyana, much less other companies.
The lawyer said, “I mean how many boats do they have? How many drones? How many environmental officers are stationed on

the Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel? What equipment does the EPA have to test water and air quality? How much does the EPA know about the damage that is being done to the species on the sea bed?”
Janki also pointed out another major weakness of the EPA in that it does not even know, independently, how much gas ExxonMobil has flared. She stressed that the agency has to rely on numbers provided by company. From December last to now, ExxonMobil has flared over nine billion cubic feet of gas and on a daily basis, it burns 12 million cubic feet. Those figures are what the EPA collects from the oil giant and feeds to the public for consumption. By flaring the gas, ExxonMobil releases toxic chemicals into the atmosphere and significantly increases Guyana’s carbon footprint.
EXXON AMONG THE WORST
Janki was also keen to point out that the flaring of reports in Guyana should come as no surprise as ExxonMobil is noted as one of the worst culprits for burning off natural gas in the United States’ top oil fields, despite presenting itself as leaders in tackling the problem. This particular issue was exposed by Greenpeace, a non-governmental environmental organization with offices in over 55 countries. Greenpeace said that ExxonMobil along with British Petroleum (BP) have both committed to drastically rein in flaring as a key part of their response to the climate crisis.

In spite of its promises, investigations showed that they are among the worst performers when it comes to minimizing emissions from their operations in one or more of the United States’ “Big Three” oil fields.
Kaieteur News understands that independent fracking firms, Marathon Oil, Whiting Petroleum and Hess Corporation also dispose of unprecedented volumes of natural gas, either by releasing it directly into the atmosphere or burning it off. (https://unearthed.greenpeace.org/2019/10/17/exxon-bp-flaring-united-states-climate-change/).
CLOSING LOOPHOLES
Head of the Environmental Protection Agency, Dr. Vincent Adams has told Kaieteur News that the situation where Exxon Mobil continues to burn gas offshore Guyana is indeed embarrassing. He was adamant however that the regulatory body will be putting measures in place for more accountability, starting with improving the permit that allowed for ExxonMobil to flare in the first place.
Speaking on an earlier edition of Guyana’s Oil and You, Dr. Adams said the regulatory body has learned that it is the broad language in ExxonMobil’s permit that gave the oil giant the leverage to flare over 12 million cubic feet of gas per day without a single repercussion. According to the permit, ExxonMobil is allowed to flare or burn some amount of associated gas during the start up of its operations. The permit is silent on what occurs during the case of mechanical issues and how long a start-up period is expected to last. In the absence of those clear terms, ExxonMobil was allowed to continue its business as usual and burn the associated gas until it can fix the issues it is experiencing with the gas compressor system for the Liza Destiny oil vessel.
Dr. Adams revealed that ExxonMobil has been informed that such loopholes in its current permit will be closed. He also said that future permits will also have much tighter and clearer conditions for flaring.
Contrary to the perception some may have, the EPA Head said that ExxonMobil is also embarrassed by this matter and is working very diligently to address it. “We appreciate them doing all that we asked for but we need more accountability hence we have informed them that we are tightening the language in the current permit and future permits where there is going to be no room for misinterpretation about what the intent of the permit is,” expressed Dr. Adams.

 

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