EPA now compiling list of ‘competent’ consultants to undertake environmental studies

Apr 05, 2022 News

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After approving US$29B in oil projects…

Kaieteur News – After three years of oil production and approving US$29 billion in oil projects, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said it is now compiling a list of competent Consultants to conduct Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) here in Guyana.

The regulator body made this disclosure on Monday while responding to recent articles published in the media.
In its press statement, the EPA said it noted a commentary which suggested that “EPA did not follow the procedures under the Environmental Protection Act for shortlisting eligible consultants to conduct EIAs. Section 3 (a) of the Environmental Protection Act requires the EPA to compile and amend from time to time with the assistance of internationally recognised environmental groups, a list of approved persons who have the qualifications and experience to carry out environmental impact assessments. The EPA did not engage internationally recognised environmental groups in screening ERM.”
However, the environmental agency explained it is currently developing a “fair and robust system for compiling this list of approved persons with appropriate qualifications and experience to conduct EIAs.”
In the interim, the EPA noted that it currently approves Consultants on a case by case basis, informed by the respective agency’s qualifications and experience in conducting environmental studies, similar to what is required.
To this end, the agency said it is, therefore, not required to screen the proposed consultant(s) with assistance for international environmental groups before approving them.
“Compilation of the list as mentioned in Section 3 (a) of the EPA Act is a separate function, and not directly material to a case-by-case approval. Many of the consultants approved are members of international Professional Environmental Impact Assessment Associations, which lends credibility regarding their qualifications and experience to conduct EIAs. Further, the team of approved consultants in this case covered several areas of expertise and were both international and local consultants with requisite qualifications and experience,” the EPA pointed out.
The EPA Executive Director, Mr. Kemraj Parsram, in an invited comment, further explained to Kaieteur News that while the EPA Act states that one of its functions is to compile a list of persons who are qualified and experienced to conduct EIAs with the assistance of international environmental groups, that process is ongoing.
As a consequence, he said that the Permit Holder, in this specific case, Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL) proposed that Environmental Resources Management (ERM) conduct its EIAs for the four oil projects, approved to date.
Parsram said, “…when projects are being proposed or an EIA is required, the project proponent recommends or proposes a Consultant, and the Consultants have to submit their CVs and so on and then we evaluate those CVs, the team of Consultants making up that (to ensure) they cover the area of expertise required for the particular EIA.”
He added, “That is how we do it right now until we finalise and have an approved list of Consultants. There are no certifying bodies that do these things, however, when we look at consultants and we look at their CVs, if they are members of professional associations, such as International Environmental Impact Assessment related type associations, then that is an indication of their credibility to perform EIAs and of course their CVs and the types of projects they have done, the years of experience they have doing this and how many they have done and so on, and where else.”
Back in December last year, a group of environmentalists had challenged the independence and credibility of ERM, since the Consultant has been the lone agency to date that has conducted all of the environmental impact studies required for ExxonMobil’s projects, offshore Guyana.
The experts Simone Mangal-Joly, Alfred Buhlai, Vanda Radzik, Janette Bulkan, Denuta Radzik, Jerry Jailall, Alissa Trotz and Maya Trotz wrote to the EPA requesting that it disclose the list of other qualified consultants, from which the ERM was selected to conduct the Yellowtail EIA.
In the letter seen by Kaieteur News, the group said, “Please provide the evidence that ERM was shortlisted by the Environmental Protection Agency, among (other) consultants qualified to conduct EIAs, through the prescribed process in the Environmental Protection Act, which requires a review of their credentials and capacity by qualified international environmental organisations (and to) provide evidence of when this was done”.
Additionally, the group reasoned that the EEPGL applied for an Environmental Permit for Exxon’s fourth project, the Yellowtail Development on April 1, 2021. On May 9, 2021, the EPA indicated that an EIA was required. On June 28, 2021, the ERM was approved as the consulting firm to carry out the study, and on September 10, 2021, the EPA issued the Final Terms and Scope for the Yellowtail Development Environmental Impact Assessment. One month later, in October 2021, the ERM submitted its EIA document for the statutory 60-day public scrutiny process, which commenced on October 15, 2021.
In this regard, the experts questioned how the ERM could have possibly conducted a credible EIA study, according to statutory provisions of the Environmental Protection Act, within one month of the issuance of the Final Terms and Scope for the study.

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