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6th oil project poses Tsunami risk to Guyana’s coastline
ExxonMobil’s EIA reveals…
Kaieteur News – An earthquake is generally caused by the shifting of the earth’s tectonic plates and with the ExxonMobil led consortium’s latest US$12.7B Whiptail Development Project being located in the vicinity of the fault line close to the South American and Caribbean Plates, the activity poses increased seismic activity that could potentially see Guyana’s coastline being ravaged by a tsunami.
This is documented in the recently approved Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), that was submitted to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
The Whiptail Development Project is located some 294 kilometers away from an area that poses increased risk of seismic activity—at the boundary between the Caribbean and South American plates.
The document also outlines that with regards to the Whiptail Development Area “deep-seated faults on the outer shelf, some of which appear to offset the seabed, may indicate a slightly higher risk of seismic activity than has previously been considered.”
As such, it was reported that “Guyana could experience tsunamis generated from seismic activity outside Guyana if such activity propagated waves of sufficient magnitude and in the required direction.”
According to the document, “major earthquakes frequently occur along the Lesser Antilles subduction zone, where the South American Plate is subducting beneath the Caribbean Plate.”
The Whiptail Production Area, according to the EIA is located approximately 294 kilometers from the boundary between the Caribbean and South American plates and more than 1,050 kilometers from the nearest area of active seismicity (in the vicinity of Puerto Rico).
According to Exxon based on its studies, “there is a 2 percent chance in a given 50-year period that a very small seismic event (which might not even be perceptible if someone were at the exact location of the event) would occur in the PDA (Production Development Area). Referring to the map, the nearest area identified on the map as having an elevated seismic risk is approximately 294 kilometers away from the PDA, at the boundary between the Caribbean and South American plates.”
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