Another Chemical Storage Facility slated for construction

Dec 22, 2020 News

– but no Impact Assessment required by EPA

Kaieteur News – The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is, once again, not requiring an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) be conducted for the construction and operation of another Chemical Storage Facility.
In this instance, the proposed project — construction of a Hazardous Materials Storage Facility, is expected to be undertaken by John Fernandes Limited at Plantation Fairfield, Mahaicony, East Coast Demerara (ECD).
An EIA is usually conducted by the EPA to evaluate the likely environmental impacts of a proposed project or development, taking into account inter-related socio-economic, cultural and human-health impacts, both beneficial and adverse.
However, the EPA in a recent public notice stated, “In accordance with Section 11(2) of the Environmental Protection Act, Cap 20:05, Laws of Guyana, the application for the project listed above has been screened by the Agency to assess the potential environmental impacts, and it has been determined that the project will not significantly affect the environment nor human health, and is therefore exempted from the requirement for an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).”
Be that as it may, it is still allowing the general public a 30-day period to lodge any objections or concerns about the project. Appeals and objections can be submitted to the Environmental Assessment Board at the EPA’s Sophia, Georgetown office.
According to the summary on the EPA’s website, the project is strictly a storage and container transfer facility used for the storage of products and equipment, repackaging of product into tanks, filtering product as they are repackaged, quality control of the filtering operation, transportation of inventory to supply vessel.
“The imported products will be transferred to the proposed site where most of the products are filtered as they are transferred into internationally approved transportation containers through a closed-loop system to eliminate vapour emissions,” the summary outlined.
The company plans to store chemicals such as “Asphaltene Inhibitor, Corrosion inhibitor, Biocide, Biocide Filter, Hydrate Inhibitor, Demulsifier, Chlorine Scavenger, Defoamer and Hydrate Inhibitor” all used in the oil and gas sector.
The chemicals would be stored in ISO Tanks constructed from: grade 316 stainless steel with the capacity to hold 5,000 gallons per tank; plastic tanks constructed of high-density polyethylene with the 275-gallon capacity, along with steel drums constructed from carbon steel either lined or unlined.

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