‘Hulk’ joins Guyana’s protest against Exxon’s oil deal

May 29, 2022 News

“Exxon is at it again! This time, they’re robbing the people of Guyana with an oil deal that could destroy their country and cook the planet.”- Mark Alan Ruffalo

Kaieteur News – As an online petition, to secure a better deal for Guyana continues to pick up global traction, a well-known actor from the United States has joined the protest.

US Actor, Mark Alan Ruffalo who plays the role of the Hulk. (Photo Credit: www.piratesandprincesses.net)

Mark Alan Ruffalo, who starred in the popular 2012 film Avengers, played the ‘Hulk’ and in more recent times, he appeared in the Netflix movie ‘The Adam Project’ along with several others.
Ruffalo wrote on his Twitter account on Friday night that “Exxon is at it again! This time, they’re robbing the people of Guyana with an oil deal that could destroy their country and cook the planet.” To this end, the star called on the Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Mr. Kemraj Parsram to stop this from happening. Guyana’s Office of the President was tagged in the Tweet.
Given that the operating permit for Exxon’s first oil field, Liza 1, expires next week, May 31, 2022, international advocates and environmental activists have increased momentum to support Guyana in its call for a better financial deal from its oil endowments, as well as adequate protection for the environment.
During an important Avaaz-hosted webinar on Tuesday last, representative, Martyna Dominiak said that the organisation had launched a campaign 48 hours earlier asking its members globally to send in messages directly addressed to the EPA Head, to ensure more benefits for Guyana through the bargaining of the Lisa 1 permit’s renewal.
Dominiak said on Tuesday that since the campaign was launched (the Sunday prior), Guyana had received support with some 4,600 signatures coming in from countries as far as Uganda, Qatar and Guyanese in the Diaspora. The signatures have since increased.
Avaaz is a U.S-based organisation launched in 2007 that promotes global activism on issues such as climate change, human rights, animal rights, corruption, poverty, and conflict. Avaaz has been referred to as “the globe’s largest and most powerful online activist-network with more than 70 million members. The petition, which takes direct aim at the EPA head, says, “You can stop Exxon’s oil bomb. Mr. Parsram, thousands of people around the world ask you not to grant Exxon a new environmental permit. Don’t sacrifice the future of the people of Guyana and all of us for the profits of a billion dollar company.”
The campaign also notes to its signatories that, “Kemraj Parsram, head of the Guyanese environmental body, will decide soon whether to grant Exxon a new permit to continue this devastating operation. With thousands of messages from all around the world, we can encourage him to stand up for our planet. Write your encouraging, personal message to Kemraj Parsram now and Avaaz will deliver it directly to his office and social media he’s using.”
Avaaz is also calling for a pause of oil operations until ExxonMobil guarantees that they will pay for all environmental, social and economic damage across Guyana and the Caribbean as a result of any well blow-out or oil spill from their operations. They are also advocating for a pause in local operation until the Government of Guyana provides independent evidence that the benefits to the Guyanese people outweigh the costs and until the Government invests in solar energy jobs in Guyana in light of its conditional undertaking under the Paris Agreement to go 100 percent renewable by 2025.
Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited’s (EEPGL)—Exxon Mobil Guyana—Environmental Permit for its Liza I operations, comes up for review next week and as such, stakeholders are calling on the EPA to not just act as a rubber stamp and renew the permit without major reforms to the deal between the partners involved.
The Liza I Oil field in the Stabroek Block first began pumping oil in December 2019 having found the hydrocarbons in commercial quantities in 2015. The field is being produced by a Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) Vessel—the Liza Destiny—with an installed capacity of 120,000 barrels per day.