Exxon’s billboards insulting, disrespectful - Former EPA Head

Exxon’s billboards insulting, disrespectful – Former EPA Head

Dec 12, 2022 News

– says company out to mislead, silence concerns regarding lopsided deal

Kaieteur News – The billboards erected by American oil giant, ExxonMobil are set out to mislead Guyanese and silence genuine concerns regarding the lopsided contract that governs the Stabroek Block, in which the oil company enjoys the majority of the benefits.

AFC member and former EPA Head, Dr. Vincent Adams.

This is according to the Alliance For Change. During its press conference on Friday, one of its members and former Head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Dr. Vincent Adams argued that the oil company must retract this misleading message. “The AFC condemns in the strongest way possible the embarrassing display of billboards by Exxon across our beautiful country as no doubt propaganda to mislead and silence our people’s bonafide concerns about the unfair exploitation our nation’s patrimony by Exxon,” he told the media.

Dr. Adams was keen to note that the party welcomes foreign investors such as Exxon, as was demonstrated during the party’s tenure in office between 2015 and 2020; however, by erecting the structures across the country, Exxon has demonstrated “an abuse of our warm welcome and hospitality.” In fact, the AFC believes the act was an “in-your-face show of disrespect and insult” to Guyanese intelligence.

As such, Dr. Adams reasoned, “In as much as we welcome the presence and contributions towards our nation’s economy, we are highly disappointed by this unprecedented behaviour of a foreign company of Exxon’s calibre, coming into our country and engaging in propaganda in such grossly dishonest attempt to mislead our people and demean our genuine concerns of unfairness in the exploitation of our God-given resources.”

He reminded that Guyana played a vital role in reviving Exxon’s financial viability, adding that the party will simply not allow “colonization” days to reoccur where Guyanese had their wealth taken away from them and had to keep quiet. Contrary, the AFC urged, “We wish to advise Exxon that the Guyanese people are not as stupid as they might think and we can see through these farcical displays. We therefore advise that in order to earn the respect our people, we implore them to cut out the contentious propaganda and tell the people the truth.”

Notably, the party listed about a dozen terms they believe Exxon should come clean with Guyana on. To begin with, the political group insisted that the oil company should erect a billboard to tell the nation the truth about its paltry gains from the oil contract and the fact that it is getting six times more than Guyana.

Not only that, but it also argued that Exxon should tell the country that it may never get more than this meagre sum in the absence of ring-fencing provisions in the lopsided deal.

Additionally, Dr. Adams reasoned, “How about putting on your billboard, the truth that you are legally exceeding the safe production limit by 25 percent, thus increasing the chances of a spill? How about telling us the truth on your billboard, how you are breaking the laws of the land by not providing parent company guarantee that you signed up to, to cover liabilities of a spill, even though increasing the risk of spill?”

He continued, “How about telling us the truth on your billboards that Guyana and the rest of the Caribbean will be bankrupted with a major spill and where is the billboard Exxon that tells us the truth about the massive amounts of hot, oil contaminated, toxic and radioactive water you are dumping into the clean ocean and the hundreds of thousands of barrels of pure oil that you will be dumping in the water?”

The AFC told reporters that they are not against the oil company erecting billboards; however, they owe it to the nation to be truthful concerning the exploitation of the oil resource. It was keen to note that it will not stand by idly “watching the invasion of our sovereignty and dignity and propagandists attacks on our people’s psyche while defacing our exquisite landscape.”

This newspaper reported on Tuesday that the oil company erected a number of billboards across the country claiming that Guyana is getting 52 percent of the profits from the Stabroek Block. The Publisher of this newspaper, Mr. Glenn Lall has since challenged the company’s assertion, explaining that Guyana is merely getting a quarter of the profits due to the 2016 PSA. He is adamant that what Exxon should have been telling Guyanese on those huge billboards, is who is getting the ¾ of the apple plus the other half of the quarter apple which remains.

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