Govt. lied to U.N. Human Rights Committee about former EPA boss’ involvement in Exxon deal

Mar 21, 2024 ExxonMobil, News, Oil & Gas

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…complaint filed to Committee

Kaieteur News – Former Head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Dr. Vincent Adams has written to the United Nations Human Rights Commission, regarding misleading information presented to that body by government in relation to his involvement in the signing of the lopsided ExxonMobil oil contract.

The government appeared before the Commission on Tuesday for a second hearing, where it was questioned on the competence of the present Executive Director of the EPA, Kemraj Parsram. The Committee explained concerns have been raised regarding Parsram’s competency, compared with the former Head of the Agency, Dr. Adams.

Commissioner H. Tigroudja in a brief comment explained that oil producing states are prone to corruption, as influencers can come to deviate benefits of those resources. She therefore pointed to the critical role of the Environmental Protection Agency in ensuring that oil companies respect environmental standards and guarantee prudent exploration and production activities.

The UN Commissioner noted that the Committee was informed that when the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) took office in 2020, the former Director who was “extremely competent” had been removed, while concerns remain that the new director is not well versed in environmental standards and “allow therefore, companies to come into your country and exploit the oil resources, without respecting the environmental standards that are very high indeed.”

To this end, her question to the government was, ‘who selects the Director’ and how is his independence guaranteed.   Representing government was Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance, Gail Teixeira, who blamed Dr. Adams for overseeing the Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) signed between the former Coalition administration and ExxonMobil.  The Minister told the UN body, “The former Commissioner or Director of the EPA oversaw the 2016 PSA which has been criticized by all, including my government, and so I think sometimes that these issues become very partisan.”

She continued, “The issue of the former Director, he oversaw, he was part of the secret Production Sharing Agreement of 2016 and nobody knew about it… (and) the signature bonus.”  Teixeira said the government had a right to replace the Director, as she went on to note that the EPA Board had reviewed the application of Mr. Parsram and appointed him Director. On the question of competence, the Minister underscored that Guyana was a new oil producer and is currently utilizing a US$20M loan from the World Bank to boost its capacity in the sector.

“I mentioned already that a US$20M loan from the World Bank is helping us to set up the regulatory framework of the EPA because the act that was passed in 1994/ 1995 had no concept of oil and gas. We only discovered oil in 2015 and started producing in 2019 and so the Act also have to be brought into line and this is where the system’s technical assistance of the world bank is critical and 70 percent of that project is completed and it should be finished by 2025 December,” Teixeira told the United Nations Human Rights Commission.

Dr. Adams subsequently wrote a letter to the Commission, exposing the misleading information presented by the government.

In the document seen by this publication, dated March 19, 2024, the former EPA Head explained that when the 2016 oil deal was signed, he was employed as a Senior Executive in the United States Department of Energy. He explained, “It would have been a very serious violation of the US laws, national security, and my oath of office to be working for another Government.” Dr. Adams, a Petroleum and Environmental Engineer therefore noted, “Not only is this Minister’s accusation false and disrespectful to the Committee, but it also puts me at risk of being branded as conducting illegal and unpatriotic acts against the USA.”

He was keen to point out that he retired from the US Government on December 31, 2016, and did not take up employment as Head of the EPA until October 1, 2018, some years and 3 months after the PSA was signed. Dr. Adams told the UN Human Rights Commission that he was one of the first to publicly criticize the PSA and continued to do so, even while serving as Director of the Agency.

Moreover, he explained, “The EPA has absolutely nothing to do with the crafting and/or managing the PSA, for that would be an obvious conflict of interest. It was crafted, and is managed by the Ministry of Natural Resources.” The former Head of the EPA told the Commission in his letter that the Minister’s response to other questions are likely to be consistent with the PPP’s lack of transparency, competence, and truth.

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• Director, EPA, lied, PSA, Teixeira

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