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EPA flip-flops on importance of updated EIA guidelines

Jul 17, 2021 News

Kaieteur News – Since the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) got rid of its updated 2020 guidelines for environmental impact assessments (EIA), the agency has changed its tune on their importance.
It is now claiming that shelving the guidelines will not affect the quality of the EIAs at all.
The EPA said this in a media release on Thursday, following articles by Kaieteur News. This newspaper pointed out that the removal of the guidelines was done just six days before the agency announced a requirement for ExxonMobil to conduct an EIA for the US$900M gas-to-energy project. This is an indisputable fact.
Furthermore, the agency had said that it withdrew the guidelines to conduct consultations with stakeholders. They are called Revised Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Guidelines (2020) for Mining, Forestry, Hydropower, Thermal Power, Electricity Transmission and Offshore Petroleum Exploration and Production.
In the meantime, the regulator believes it wise to use guidelines from 21 years ago, called EIA Guidelines (2000) Volumes 1-5 (Generic; Forestry; Mining; and Electricity Generation).
Concerned Guyanese, Simone Mangal, had raised the matter during a virtual public scoping for the gas-to-shore project last week. This raised questions about whether the retraction was done to expedite ExxonMobil’s project.
The EPA on Thursday claimed that the decision is not related to any project seeking environmental authorisation.
It said, “The retracted guidelines were not restricted to oil and gas, but rather were a suite of guidelines relevant to a number of sectors, including mining, forestry, hydropower, thermal power and electricity transmission.”
“Guidelines are not mandatory for the conduct of EIAs. The EPA therefore reiterates that the retraction of the 2020 guidelines will in no way affect the quality of the EIA. The EPA is working assiduously to have additional consultations on these guidelines before they are finalised.”
This response however, conflicts with statements made by the EPA several months ago when it announced the updated guidelines, captured in the Kaieteur News article – Outdated EPA regulations gets updated (April 11, 2021).
The EPA had said the new guidelines address seven sectors specifically, and address climate vulnerability, international treaties, opportunities for renewable energy and the emerging petroleum sector. It had said back then, “With these gaps being filled, the EPA should now be able to assess more accurately new and complex projects and monitor and mitigate their social and environmental impacts.”
It had also said the updated guidelines will now be able to meet international best practices for EIA conduct, preparation and review.
With the foregoing in mind, stakeholders ask, How could the EPA now claim that the removal of guidelines, which filled major gaps in oil sector regulation, would make no difference to the quality of the EIA?
This comes at a time when Guyanese across the country are concerned about the potential environmental impacts of the gas-to-energy project. While serious questions are being raised during scoping meetings, the EPA would not answer them, making the excuse that they are not within scope.
The EPA has not said when it will reinstitute the new guidelines, which have disappeared from its website. It only reiterated that they have to face wider public participation through inputs from diverse stakeholders.

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