Guyana still in the dark about suspected oil spill- Int’l Lawyer

Jan 07, 2022 News

Kaieteur News – International Lawyer, Melinda Janki who has been championing environmental issues locally, is seeking answers from the government as well as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on the oily substance that was found offshore Guyana late last year.

International Lawyer, Melinda Janki

The issue was first reported by fishermen plying their trade in various points of Guyana’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
Natural Resources Minister, Vickram Bharrat had dismissed claims about a week after the reports surfaced, saying that he was confident the substance was not oil, even though no analysis was done. It is in this regard that Janki is questioning the dismissal of claims by the fishermen. She is adamant that such serious matters must not be easily shoved aside. In fact, she argued that the minister ought to keep quiet rather than share information with the public, unsupported by evidence.
The lawyer reasoned, “Where are the samples that were taken of the substance? Who analysed those samples and what were the results?”
“I think ministers should stop talking nonsense about oil and stop giving people reassurance completely in the face of facts and completely without evidence and the Minister should stop defending the oil sector. They have to serve the people of Guyana,” she contended. Janki made those statements during an interview with an online media entity.
Last year when Bharrat was cornered by reporters on the suspected spill, he explained that the substance could not have been oil, since its operators, ExxonMobil-in the Stabroek Block-and CGX Energy Inc-operating in the Corentyne Block, have “no such” reports. Furthermore, he noted that the substance is suspected to have leaked from a vessel.
According to the minister, “I think we know that offshore we do not produce, or you do not extract gasoline or diesel offshore, you extract crude so what we would have seen is maybe diesel or gasoline that was probably deposited or leaked from transporting cargo, a fishing vessel”.
Even though a source at the Civil Defence Commission (CDC) had related that the matter was being probed by the National Oil Spill Committee, no information on the substance has been forthcoming. In fact, the Executive Director of the EPA, Kemraj Parsram related to this paper that the agency also is not in receipt of any samples.
He, however, pointed out that Skytruth assisted by examining satellite imagery for the areas near a current drilling activity, and general areas 45 nanometers offshore Guyana but “they were unable to turn up any image of oil spill event for the period November 30 to December 4, 2021”.

SkyTruth uses satellite imagery to study and document environmental impacts on earth, according to the company’s website. This newspaper spoke with a fisherman that had reported the incident and who explained that the EPA had promised to contact him for information with regard to the substance, but never made efforts to visit the site.
According to the reports, the black oily substance could be seen close to the coast in the vicinity of the Anna Regina koker in Region Two. This publication also spoke with some fishermen from the Berbice area, who reported sightings similar to those reports emanating from the Essequibo Coast.
This newspaper has since been provided with a number of video footage captured by different individuals from various points in Guyana’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), where the fishermen would ply their trade. The videos depict a dark, sometimes foamy film floating on the ocean surface. In a number of the videos, sailors could be overheard shouting, words to the effect of “oil, this is oil; this got to be from an oil spill.”
The reports come at a time when local fishers have already been complaining of a shortage of fish which they believe is attributed to the operations of Exxon. This however is nothing but a fantasy according to Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo, who recently told an online personality that since he was a child, the seasons would change and fish would be scarce.

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