PPP Govt. playing Russian Roulette with our country by not ensuring full liability coverage for oil spills – Patterson

Jul 25, 2022 News

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By Davina Bagot

Kaieteur News – Shadow Oil and Gas Minister, David Patterson believes the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) government is playing Russian roulette with Guyana, by not securing full liability coverage in the event of an oil spill.

Patterson highlighted the correlation between the lack of full liability coverage and the game during his presentation on Thursday evening in the National Assembly, just before his Motion—seeking to not only include full unlimited liability coverage for oil spills and other disasters related to petroleum production, but also direct the Government of Guyana to conduct an independent analysis on the possible ill effects of an oil spill, and present this report to the Parliamentary Committee on Natural Resources to be used as a reference for all other future oil development submissions—was thrown out of the House by a majority vote.

Patterson in arguing the need for full liability coverage was keen to note that his intent was not to imply that oil giant ExxonMobil and its partners Hess, and CNOOC would not take preventative action to ensure there are no spills; however he does believe that “The PPP government is playing Russian Roulette with our country, by not ensuring that we have full liability coverage” in the event that such a disaster occurs.

To support this judgment, the MP listed five points to elaborate on the ill effects that can be caused by an oil spill.

Oil spills he explained, would adversely affect deep ocean and coastal fishing and fisheries, while coastal areas that are known to promote recreational activities such as swimming, boating and other tourist activities could also be impacted.

The Member of Parliament (MP) was keen to point out to the House as well that the ramping up of oil production could further exacerbate the situation, as the likelihood of such an event will also exponentially increase. To this end, he warned that the Indigenous communities and those closest to the coasts will be devastated and their livelihoods destroyed.

At the same time, the former Minister of Public Infrastructure noted that with the absence of baseline studies, these damages are likely to be ignored by the oil company as the data to prove what was there prior to such an event would simply be nonexistent. In addition, Patterson warned that ExxonMobil has publicly said on several occasions that it would only cover “reasonable” and “legitimate” costs should an oil spill occur, therefore signaling its intent to challenge any damage caused in Court.

To this end, Patterson told the House “Be it resolved that the Government of Guyana, conducts an independent Baseline Risk Assessment to allow for the objective determination of environmental damages and liabilities, should they occur, especially in light of Exxon’s showing of bad intentions to raise questions as to what are legitimate and reasonable costs; and to be used by the Parliamentary Committee of Natural Resources as a reference for all other future oil development submissions.”

He said, “I am willing to wager, that every one of the members on the other side of this house has insurance protection of sorts for their homes, automobiles, health and so on; yet, it is mindboggling, even though not surprising, that our friends on that side of the House are not the wee bit interested in protecting not only the people we serve, but an entire nation and the region’s people and livelihoods.”

Meanwhile, in an Alliance For Change (AFC) press conference on Friday, Patterson pointed to the importance of the baseline study being conducted. He explained, “We thought it was important to lay a marker down, get it on record. We thought it was important that we requested they do a baseline study and a baseline study is simply a report of exactly what is existing in our communities today so in the event of a peril which is an oil spill, poor communities don’t have to go up against that vehement of Exxon and their lawyers and an uncaring government to prove to them what they had before the spill.”

Patterson said he even told the administration that such a study should be funded by the government as it would be to the benefit of all Guyanese. However, he told the media that the PPP’s attitude, once again, was to oppose anything brought by the other side of the House, ignoring the call by the general public as well for ExxonMobil to give Guyana full liability coverage.

Environmentalists have been repeatedly hammering the need for the government to conduct baseline studies offshore to understand the resources currently existing. This data, according to one Environmentalist, Simone Mangal-Joly, should be used to inform where the oil company conducts its operations. These calls nonetheless continue to fall on deaf ears, despite the administration’s claim of wanting to produce oil in a sustainable manner.

 

 

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