Incestuous relationship

Jun 02, 2023 Editorial

Editorial…

Kaieteur News – It has been a most concerning relationship for Guyanese. The relationship between Guyana’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and ExxonMobil has had many harsh descriptions branded on the foreheads of both entities.

These descriptions have ranged from scornful to dismissive to the barely tolerant. Even the Government of Guyana, no slouch for words, had to search far and wide before the best that it could come up with was “cooperative.” The Government and the EPA may have felt some comfort with “cooperative” since it is safe, and not open to much dissection and condemnation; both could not have been more wrong.

It is not the job and should not be a priority of the EPA to have a “cooperative” relationship with ExxonMobil. The mandate of the EPA is to regulate and there is always some built-in tension between the regulator and the regulated. Too much of the “cooperative” could be unhealthy, too much of the “cooperative” fosters too much closeness, and to the point where the EPA is hesitant in laying down the law before ExxonMobil. Too much of the “cooperative” by the EPA has led to the point where Exxon keeps raising the production bar offshore Guyana.

What began as production of 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) for Liza Phase I, with a peak recommendation of 120,000bpd has crept and then soared to 150,000 bpd, a 25% increase beyond peak safe production levels. As ExxonMobil has increased production levels, Guyana’s EPA has looked the other way. The EPA is pretending ignorance, feigning confidence, or hoping for the best. This is the nature of the “cooperative” relationship presently at work between the EPA and ExxonMobil.

Observers are concerned about the relationship and have raised some valid points. This “cooperative” relationship is now so tight that it has crossed over the border into what is consensual. Meaning, that both parties are fully aware of the implications of their actions, but they are so committed to each other, that it does not matter to what kind of perilous territory it leads them, both will go and take the plunge. The highly improper nature of the relationship does not matter, so long as ExxonMobil gets what it wants. It is why to some sober and keen observers, not only have hard questions emerged, but even sharper conclusions have been reached.

The relationship between Guyana’s EPA and Exxon is now so tight, so intimate, so reckless that it tumbles neatly into the category of ‘incestuous.’ Neither Guyana’s EPA nor Exxon will admit to any such condition, but this is what the so-called “cooperative” relationship between the two has inflicted upon the reputation of the two entities. It is too close for the safety of Guyana’s environment and people. It is too frail and fearful on the part of the EPA, and too aggressive and dangerous by Exxon.

Though it may not be apparent, there is a danger to Exxon itself to which the company gives short thrift since it is in such a rush to pump as much oil as it can in the shortest time possible. Because Exxon has gotten its way with this country’s EPA, its own operational standards and practices could have been jeopardised due to the short-term comfort that comes from cutting corners. In other words, company personnel have let down their guard, and grown complacent because there is no watchful cop on the beat. This is so because the EPA has long given up on honouring in letter and spirit its most sensitive mandate. In the routines of life, and in commonsense terms, this is when accidents are more likely to happen.

Operational failure could lead to loss of trust in the company, leaving it with a battle on its hands to preserve or patch-up a reputation under attack. When a company has grown comfortable dealing with a helpful regulator, then it can do great harms to itself through less than peak sharpness, plus rot and sloth. Both Guyana’s EPA and Exxon now have no reputation to speak of, given their records in the domestic arena. They can get more incestuously wrapped up in each other, or the EPA can extricate itself from Exxon’s stranglehold and do better for Guyana.

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Incestuous relationship

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