Environmentalist questions ‘independence’ of Exxon’s Consultant

Nov 23, 2021 News

…says regulator is now an asylum run by inmates

Kaieteur News – Overseas-based Guyanese environmentalist, Simone Mangal, is raising concerns over what she believes is a ‘red flag’ in the selection process of the consultancy firm used to conduct the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) studies for oil giant, ExxonMobil.

Overseas-based Guyanese Environmentalist: Simone Mangal

Mangal expressed her views during a live broadcast segment of ‘The Glenn Lall Show,’ a commentary programme, which aired on the Kaieteur Radio, last Wednesday.
The show followed a series of public consultations to inform the final EIA for the Yellowtail oil development project, where Mangal joined a panel of other environmentalists who raised a barrage of questions surrounding the environmental issues, which the 4th oil project will possibly have on Guyana.
In keeping with the line of questioning, Mangal told the show’s host and Kaieteur News’ Publisher, Glenn Lall that concerns have now arisen over the independence of the firm selected to do Exxon’s work.
She noted that while the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Act is clear on the independence of the firm selected to do the EIA, the consultancy firm—ERM—appears to be engaged in a “long running relationship”, with ExxonMobil and the EPA—Guyana’s regulator.
As such, Mangal asserted, “I am really quite taken, looking back at the studies [and] the consultant keeps referring to all the previous studies that they have done. There seems to be a long-term relationship between this firm, Esso [Exxon’s partner] and the Environmental Protection Agency in Guyana as it keeps selecting the same firm to do the study for Esso.”
According to Mangal, “the EPA Act requires that the firm is independent. You cannot claim independence when you have a long-term relationship doing all of the studies for the applicant [Esso] because you have a financial relationship now. This is a firm that established itself in Guyana and is doing all of Exxon‘s work effectively. It is not independent and Guyanese need to look at the EPA for failing to do its duty,”
Emphasizing the law, Mangal noted that the relationship between the three entities leaves many questions.
“The EPA Act is very clear, there must be independence and that independence has to be judged on serious criteria… Do you really think a firm is independent when they keep doing the studies one after the other? Are they the only qualified firm to do the job over and over again? And why is Guyana’s EPA failing the nation by not looking into this practical pattern that it is responsible for? ” questioned the environmentalist.
Added to this, Mangal noted that the credibility of the firm and regulator is now on the line.
In this regard, she noted the EPA should seriously check itself on its role and responsibilities.
She said, “…these are some very questions that were raised in this [EIA] process…”
Mangal noted too that all of the waste that is coming to shore, “that are being dumped in various communities across Guyana is a result of incredibly poor decision-making and the waste is not being properly accounted for in the public.”
She posited, “…we have a situation where both governments who dealt with Exxon behaved dastardly towards the people of Guyana…There is no proper monitoring of the impact and processing of that waste, the disposal of the waste on shore or offshore to date.”
Additionally, Mangal was adamant, “we have not really done right by the fisheries; we never really examined what really are the underlying causes for the decline in the fisheries sector and you cannot have a massive oil industry that’s sitting offshore and assume that it‘s not culpable. I mean, you would have to have sufficient data to look at the causes but it is well documented in the scientific literature that seismic surveys are damaging marine life. So you can’t discount this.”
Taking all the matters into consideration, Mangal accused the EPA of Guyana of grossly failing in its duty.
“I know this because I have objected to a series of EIAs that they have waived and after insisting they were doing well, they afterwards withdrew a whole series of those documents, admitting that they had been systematically breaking the law.”
To this end, she contends “this agency is a mess; it is like an asylum that is being run by its inmates.”
In this regard, the environmentalist said there is need for the EPA to up the ante and ensure public and environmental safety of Guyana is safeguarded.

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