‘Glaring conflict of interest’

May 02, 2022 News

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– Exxon’s preferred environmental assessor, ERM stacked with members who worked with the oil company before

By Davina Bagot

Kaieteur News – Environmental Resources Management (ERM), a London based Consultancy firm that has been conducting all of the Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) required by ExxonMobil for their Guyana based operations to date, have hired experts to conduct those studies who have worked with the oil company for years.

This much can be found in the most recent EIA completed by ERM for Exxon’s Gas-to-Energy project to be constructed at Wales, West Bank Demerara.
One of the experts at ERM, the Guyana Program Lead, Partner-in-Charge, Mr. Todd Hall has over 25 years of broad experience in environmental consulting, focusing on environmental, social and health impact assessment, management plan development, multimedia permitting, site planning and licencing, remediation, and risk assessment.
His biography included in the EIA states that “Todd has worked with ExxonMobil for his entire career, from his first project involving a remedial investigation of a legacy ExxonMobil property, and he has led ERM’s programs for ExxonMobil at multiple downstream facilities, legacy sites, LNG (Liquified natural gas) regasification facilities, and upstream exploration and development projects worldwide.”
Hall has prepared environmental, social, and health impact assessments and management plans for dozens of exploration and development projects in North and South America, Asia/Pacific, Africa, and the Middle East, according to the document. In Guyana, he has been part of ERM’s support to Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL) since 2017 and has functioned in the capacity as Program Lead for ERM’s support to EEPGL since early 2018.
ERM said he directed the EIAs, inclusive of socioeconomic and community health resources, and associated data collection and stakeholder engagement process for ExxonMobil’s second and third projects, the Liza Phase 2 development and the Payara development Project, both offshore Guyana. Data collection included completion of onshore and marine traffic studies, onshore and offshore ambient air quality monitoring, and surveys of marine fish, marine benthos, coastal birds, seabirds, marine turtles, and ecosystem services in the projects’ Area of Influence.The GTE impact study also says that Hall directed Environmental Management Plans for a number of multi-well exploration campaigns in Guyana’s waters, in addition to serving as a senior technical reviewer for the Liza Phase One EIA.
David Blaha, another Partner-in-Charge at ERM has also worked for ExxonMobil in the past. According to his bio, Blaha has extensive experience in multi-media permitting of large and often “controversial” infrastructure projects. The document notes, “He served as ERM’s Partner-in-Charge for ExxonMobil’s initial work in Guyana, including successfully permitting and securing the Government of Guyana approval for seismic surveys, EBSs, EMPs, and the Liza Phase 1 EIA. This included close coordination with the Guyana EPA and key stakeholders. His other work for ExxonMobil has ranged from serving as the technical coordinator for EM’s Golden Pass LNG Project in Texas to the decommissioning of the Nam Phong Gas Processing Plant in Thailand. Other large complex projects that he has helped lead include the Keystone XL Pipeline EIS for the US State Department and the Northeast Gateway Deepwater Port LNG Terminal EIS for the US Coast Guard.”
For the GTE project, Blaha was the overall lead for regulatory engagements, EIA process execution, and deliverable production and technical review of the EIA.
A third expert on the ERM team that developed the EIA, Julia Tims, Project Manager, Biological Resource Specialist has worked with ExxonMobil for the past 20 years. Her bio states that she has been providing technical leadership and project management for the United States and international impact assessment and biodiversity-focused projects within a broad range of sectors including oil and gas, renewable energy, mining, and infrastructure.
“Julia has worked with ExxonMobil on multiple projects over the last 20 years and she has been part of ERM’s support to EEPGL in Guyana since 2017, most recently leading the biodiversity component of the Payara EIA,” the document states.
Locally, she has led the components of two EIAs for offshore oil exploration projects in Guyana and conducted baseline assessment focusing on seabirds and coastal birds and assessed the potential impacts of the proposed projects, including unplanned events such as oil spills, on bird populations in the Caribbean region, including rare species.
She had control of the overall day-to-day management of the technical execution for EIA process and technical review of the study’s Biological Resources chapter.
ERM credibility
Environmentalists had questioned the independence and credibility of ERM during the public consultations on the Yellowtail development, Exxon’s fourth project, since the consultancy firm has been the lone institution to conduct such studies on the oil company’s behalf, in Guyana.
Even after those concerns were ventilated, ExxonMobil and the local regulator, the Environmental Protection Agency still selected ERM to conduct another EIA, this time for the Gas-to-Energy project.
So far, ERM has been the only Consultant, since 2017, that has been conducting EIAs on behalf of EEPGL.

 

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