EPA lacks data to conclude 12-well drilling campaigns will not harm environment – Specialist

Mar 14, 2022 News

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By Davina Bagot

Kaieteur News – The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has waived the requirement for an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) to be done by oil giant, ExxonMobil that is gearing to start two 12-well drilling campaigns in the Kaieteur and Canje Blocks of Guyana’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
In doing so however, the agency did not provide the data it used to reach this conclusion. Instead, the EPA in notices to the public informed that its screening of the application for the various projects have found that they will not significantly affect the environment or human health. But in the absence of baseline information on fish and mammal life cycle and migratory patterns among others, where the activities are scheduled to take place, Environmentalist Simone Mangal-Joly has questioned the reasoning behind the EPA’s decision to waive the impact assessment requirement.

In a letter to the Environmental Assessment Board (EAB) which was seen by this newspaper, Mangal-Jolly said, “…the agency lacks the relevant empirical data required to conclude that the proposed drilling activities are not likely to significantly impact the natural environment or Guyana’s offshore fish populations and fisheries sector.”
Mangal-Joly went on to explain the EPA must be in possession of adequate information before it can decide that a proposed activity will not significantly affect the environment.
In this regard, she noted that there is no recorded evidence anywhere, in any EIA already completed, or baseline studies conducted offshore, of the locations of coral reefs and fish nurseries relative to existing drill sites and/or proposed exploratory drill sites and deep-sea current and seabed contour information.
The Environmentalist reasoned, “There is no baseline information in any of the baseline studies to which the applications refer on fish and mammal life cycle and migratory patterns, and the extent and full economic and socio-economic value of offshore related fisheries or near shore fisheries affected by offshore oil and gas logistic activities. There are no baseline biological assays of fish, biomarkers of fish population and communities, or any related monitoring and evaluation data for these and other relevant parameters in and around areas where production and exploratory drilling is in progress or has been concluded.”
Moreover she pointed out that the impacts of Kaieteur and Canje multi-well drilling activities scheduled to run from 2022-2027, cannot be disassociated from the Stabroek-25 well, Stabroek 12- well, Canje 3-well, Liza Phase 1, Liza Phase 2, Payara, and Yellowtail developments or the activities of other oil and gas actors offshore.
Mangal-Joly reminded that the EPA Act in Section 17 requires a cumulative impact assessment. For this, adequate data must be available on the specific and relative locations of each activity, sensitive ecological features, as well as biophysical parameters such as ocean currents, and interactions among all these parameters, she said.
As a consequence, Environmentalist Simone Mangal-Joly has argued that the regulator body must furnish the public with the screening reports for the drilling campaigns, as these documents are presently not available to the public.
In a letter to the Environmental Assessment Board (EAB), the specialist explained “as of today March 11, 2021, I have not been able to find the screening report for the Kaieteur drilling campaign under the Screening Reports link on the EPA’s website or under the EEPGL (Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited) documents link. You are aware that these reports ought to be available for the full statutory 30-day period in which the public may examine the EPA’s decision and register any objection”.
To this end, she asked that a copy of the Kaieteur-12 well Screening Report as well as the screening methodology that the EPA has applied be shared. In fact, she said that such documents ought to be available in the interest of transparency so that the public may also exercise its right to evaluate the merits of the Agency’s decision in accordance with the intention of the EPA Act.
In her letter to the EAB, the Environmentalist pointed out that on August 28, 2021 she had objected to the EPA’s first notice to waive an EIA for the Canje-12 well drilling campaign on grounds that the Agency had violated Section 36 of the Environmental Protection Act by failing to provide reasons.
The EPA had acknowledged the violation in a response to Mangal-Joly on October 26, 2021. She said that EPA’s recent public notices for both the Kaieteur and Canje drilling campaigns refer to EPA’s Screening Reports, which were presumably intended to satisfy the requirement of Section 36 – reasons for the waiver.
Given that the screening reports have not been made public for citizens to confirm the EPA’s conclusion that no significant environmental damage will be done during the drilling campaigns, the Environmentalist gave her objection to the proposed activities.
Canje 12-well drilling campaign
EEPGL is hoping to commence its drilling campaign in the fourth quarter of this year and wrap up in the first quarter of 2025. Hundreds of tons of waste will be generated on a monthly basis as Exxon’s subsidiary EEPGL, embarks on this project, but the EPA has exempted the operator from conducting an Environmental Impact Assessment, despite being warned that it could yield adverse effects.
In its project summary for the 12-well campaign, Exxon pointed out that while similar impacts from its other campaigns could be expected from this project, these could be adverse.
According to the Canje Project Summary, “The potential impacts, which are expected to be similar to impacts identified in previous exploration/appraisal drilling Environmental Assessment and Management Plans in the Canje, Kaieteur, and Stabroek Blocks, could be directly and/or indirectly generated by the Project during drilling and/or abandonment, and such impacts could be adverse or positive in nature.”
Kaieteur 12-well drilling campaign
This exercise, once approved, would start in 2022 or 2023 and conclude by the first quarter 2027.
Kaieteur News understands that the project will generate hazardous and non-hazardous wastes. However, EEPGL assured that all waste streams for the project are expected to be managed in accordance with a Comprehensive Waste Management Plan (CWMP).
As regards the potential impacts from the project, these are expected to be physical, biological, and socioeconomic in nature. The project, according to the Kaieteur Block operator, can potentially affect biological organisms too. Additionally, the project is not expected to directly cause negative changes to the coastal population demographic.
In light of the foregoing, the EPA said project impacts have been deemed negligible to low, short-term, and localized. As such, an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is not required.

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