Few Guyanese turn out to Exxon’s public meeting in Georgetown

Sep 14, 2023 ExxonMobil, News, Oil & Gas

Kaieteur News – A handful of Guyanese on Wednesday afternoon turned out to the second public meeting hosted by ExxonMobil Guyana Limited (EMGL) on the sixth planned development, Whiptail.

The meeting clashed with the highly anticipated inaugural home game for the Guyana Amazon Warriors at the National Stadium as the 2023 Caribbean Premier League (CPL). Yesterday’s meeting commenced at 17:00hrs at the Umana Yana in Kingston Georgetown with not more than three dozen Guyanese. As the stakeholder engagement kicked off with a presentation from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the gathering slowly began to grow.

The presentation by the regulator was followed by the Project Description as presented by EMGL Projects Manager, Anothony Jackon. The consultant hired by Exxon, Environmental Resources Management (ERM) to conduct the study then made a presentation on the methodology and shared key expected impacts from the project.

Former Minister, Simona Broomes, former Mayor of Georgetown, Hamilton Greene and former Member of Parliament, Michael Carrington were among the notable participants at the engagement. During the session, ExxonMobil’s Projects Manager expressed gratitude to the handful of citizens who attended the meeting. In an invited comment, he told this newspaper that he was grateful for the turnout. “I am grateful for the citizens and media that did show up tonight for this Whiptail disclosure. No matter the number of actual attendees, unless it is the whole citizenry, I would wish to have more individuals attend as it’s important for the public to have their voices heard in this process,” he said.

Few persons showed up for the stakeholder engagement hosted by EMGL at the Umana Yana on Wednesday

Last evening’s public engagement was the lone session scheduled for feedback from Region Four, even though it is well known as the most populated demographic area in the country. Citizens had accused EMGL of deliberately scheduling the consultations during the Cricket Carnival season to prevent maximum participation. Jackson on Tuesday however during the opening of public meeting on the Whiptail project at Leonora, West Coast Demerara explained that having filed the application for the project at a specific date with the EPA, the company was required to complete the consultations by a particular date to conclude the process as early as possible.

Jackson explained, “We work the timing of the disclosure sessions collaboratively with the Government of Guyana via the EPA. The schedule that was proposed was based on having the public consultations around the 30-day mark of the 60-day review period. This reflects the intention of not engaging too early such that the public can’t sufficiently review the document, nor too late such that the EPA is unable to consider the public comments.”

The 60-day-comment period he was referring to, is required by the Environmental Protection Act. It allows the public to review the technical plans of the company and share their specific concerns or comments. These will be considered in the final decision regarding the award of a Permit for the project.

Exxon will continue with its stakeholder engagement on the planned project today and Friday in Region One. The consultations will recommence in Region Two on September 20, 2023. This will be followed by two sessions in Region Five on September 21, 2023 and the final meeting on September 22 in Region Six.

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Environmental Resources Management (ERM), Exxon, National Stadium, Umana Yana, Whiptail

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