EPA owes Guyana more than country has been provided with- Patterson

Oct 18, 2022 News

Kaieteur News – The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been failing on its mandate to protect the country as oil and gas production takes off, but in addition to that, the body has also not been transparent with citizens as information relating to the sector is lacking in various regards.

Shadow Oil and Gas Minister, David Patterson

This is according to Shadow Natural Resources Minister, David Patterson who explained that the agency must do better. He was at the time fielding questions from the media at a picket exercise on Friday, organized by a group of public-spirited Guyanese, who were demanding that the agency respond to a letter it received since August last, in which 54 persons raised serious environmental safety concerns.

Patterson said, “I do think that EPA has been doing a very sterling job in their mandates. That is an issue that everybody (knows) that’s why these persons are here. EPA has not been very transparent at all and I do think that they can do better… they owe the country way more than we have been provided with.”

To support his argument, the former Minister of Public Infrastructure pointed out that citizens have been questioning why businesses are being erected in residential areas, while other queries pertaining to the ownership of some of these said companies remain ignored.

According to him, “The EPA is supposed to have been able to provide all of these things but they don’t. Unfortunately I am not very optimistic that the EPA will change.”

Moreover, Patterson reminded that there was a recent “one barrel” oil spill reported by the Stabroek Block operator, Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL) better known as ExxonMobil Guyana, however the EPA is yet to give its own report to the nation.

The Shadow Oil and Gas Minister argued that the details of the spill must be made public, as Exxon has publicly boasted on numerous occasions of having the most modern technology onboard its Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessels to prevent oil spills, yet one barrel of crude reportedly still managed to leak out.

Executive Director of EPA, Kemraj Parsram

Patterson noted that Guyanese must know where the oil leak originated from, amongst other details relating to the recent spill.

In addition, the former Minister also knocked the PPP government for failing to hold the agency accountable to the people of Guyana. According to him, “They were elected and they came in with a shout of transparency and openness and those things like that (but) I recently saw the President of Transparency International saying that all the progress we would have made has been rolled back.”

He argued that while the administration claims to be making decisions based on credible information, they are yet to present the country with evidence, even as he cited the Gas-to-Energy project as an example.

On September 10, ExxonMobil Guyana in a statement to the press said a team on the Liza Unity FPSO observed a sheen on the water in the vicinity of the vessel on September 9, last.

According to the oil company, initial investigations indicate that about one barrel of crude was released during a maintenance activity on the vessel. Further, the activity was immediately halted and the leak was cut off.

The oil company said, “Additional surveillance by helicopter confirmed that there was no sheen in the area; only a light sheen was perceptible approximately 20 km (13 miles) North West of the vessel. By midday on September 10, a support vessel in the area confirmed no further sign of a sheen.”

The ExxonMobil affiliate said there were no pictures of the spill.

Since the incident occurred, this publication has been requesting updates from both the Executive Director of the EPA, Mr. Kemraj Parsram and the Minister of Natural Resources, Vickram Bharrat to no avail.

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