My reaction to Government and Exxon admitting there is no 14 bcf allowance

Mar 09, 2021 Letters

Dear Editor,

As we all know, both the Honourable Vice President and Honourable Minister of Natural Resources have been holding firm in public and in Parliament, that there was indeed a 14 billion cubic feet (bcf) “allowance” to be flared. They vehemently disputed my advice that there is no such allowance. The VP even went as far as saying that when at the EPA, I “knew all along that the EIA was approved by the agency (never mind that I joined the EPA a full 20 months after the EIA was signed), with that huge allowance… Exxon was given an allowance to flare or to use 14 billion cu ft of gas…and that is the reality that they allow the equivalent of 14 bcf of gas to be flared…There is no hiding and as a consequence we have this issue here…”, Jagdeo said. Minister Bharat said, “That was an agreement between the last government and Exxon.”
Well, it became apparent last Thursday at Exxon’s update to the press that Exxon could no longer sustain the pressure to do the impossible of showing the existence of something that didn’t exist, so they threw the Government under the bus when they distanced themselves from ever saying or even implying that such an allowance existed. Consequently, the government had no other choice but to admit to the press on Saturday, that the allowance does not exist.
Henceforth, we all now know that I was right and they were wrong all along, but it begs the serious question as to how could this have been possible with the Government to be so obstinately sticking to its guns in communicating such false information to its citizens on such a sensitive, important, and high profile matter. I refuse to believe that the Government could be this irresponsible to be just making things up; so then, it also begs the important question, if this type of information is not coming from Exxon, where is it coming from and who is really advising the Government to inform its decision-making on these critical and sensitive issues?
Now that it has been proven that the 14 bcf “allowance” does not exist, let’s not forget that the government also said through the exact words by the VP that because of this so-called 14 bcf allowance, “the Government is hamstrung in instituting penalties” against the company. So now that the Government has admitted that this allowance doesn’t exist, then there should be nothing left in the way to hamstring the instituting of penalties, hence the way is now clear for instituting penalties ASAP if the Government is true to its words and to its people; unless the Government believes that Exxon is above the laws of the land.
Yours truly,
Dr. Vincent Adams

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