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Supreme Court seeking persons with direct interest in case filed against EPA over liability coverage
Kaieteur News – A notice has been placed in the newspaper by Supreme Court of Judicature seeking persons with a direct interest in the case where two Guyanese citizens, President of the Transparency Institute of Guyana Inc (TIGI) Frederick Collins and another citizen, Godfrey Whyte, have taken the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to court to enforce a critical clause in the Liza Phase One environmental permit, recently issued to Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL).
TIGI President, Fred Collins
According to the notice any person with direct interest in the matter may file a similar application or apply to be joined as a party to the proceedings within 14 days of the publication of the notice dated October 27, 2022. The matter is being heard by Justice Sandil Kissoon at 3:00pm.
Under the law of the land, each company or corporation is a separate legal entity from its shareholders and creditors must look to the company/corporation to liquidate its liabilities, parlous as its financial state may be, and not to its billionaire shareholders.
That provision says ExxonMobil Corporation, the parent company for EEPGL, must cover costs for all environmental loss and damage that might result from a well blowout, oil spill or other failure in the Liza Phase One Development Project in Guyana’s Stabroek Block.
On this basis, the case was filed in the High Court on September 13 by Attorneys Seenath Jairam, SC, Melinda Janki, and Abiola Wong-Inniss.
A statement from the litigants said that the resort to the courts is to make sure that the company takes full financial responsibility in case of harm, loss and damage to the environment.
They said any ‘accident’ in its operations will affect not only Guyana and Guyanese but most of the Caribbean countries and possibly beyond the Region, the statement noted. It added that Esso is registered off-shore and its financial position is unclear as it has been filing what it calls ‘branch’ accounts in Guyana.
In the case, Mr. Collins, a former Insurance Professional said, “An oil spill would be devastating for our country and Region as many Guyanese and Caribbean peoples depend on the Ocean for their livelihoods. That is why we have decided that the time has come to take matters to the court for relief.”
Scores of other Guyanese citizens are also deeply concerned with the safety of Esso’s operations. Many have said they are shocked to learn that Esso has been using a faulty gas compressor and flaring billions of cubic feet of gas instead of re-injecting it.
Citizens have also gone to court to challenge the flaring in a separate court case. Furthermore, Esso has also admitted to operating above the safety level of its production vessel.
Melinda Janki, an International Lawyer, who is representing the litigants, has noted that the state of affairs is absolutely reprehensible.
Janki said, “If there is any mistake in Esso’s operations and oil ends up in the Caribbean countries, Guyana could be liable for the damage as a result of international law. Liability from a well blowout or oil spill could cost Guyana billions of dollars and that cost to Guyana could be more than the money that Guyana supposedly gets under the deal. This is a massive financial risk and in my view, the permit clearly puts that financial risk on Esso and its parent ExxonMobil, and not on the Guyanese people.”
Janki further stated that communities in Guyana are taking lessons from major disasters like the BP Deep Water Horizon in 2010, which cost the company over US$65 billion and destroyed the environment and livelihoods.
Unlike the United States of America, Janki posits that Guyana has no experience of oil and no oil/gas experts, engineers and other necessary technical staff to run an oil sector. She said too that Guyana also lacks the infrastructure to swiftly cap a well and mitigate the damage caused by a potential oil disaster.
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