ExxonMobil, EPA ignore concerns

Apr 21, 2022 News

 – hires ERM again to conduct EIA for Gas to Energy Project

By Davina Bagot

Kaieteur News – Despite concerns being raised by environmentalists, regarding the credibility of Environmental Resources Management (ERM), the lone Consultant that has been conducting Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) for American oil major, ExxonMobil, the company as well as the local regulator, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has again approved the firm to conduct such a study, this time, for the Gas to Energy project.
This was revealed yesterday when the EIA was released, opening the 60 days period for the public to make submissions to the EPA on the proposed project. So far, ERM has been the only Consultant, since 2017, that has been conducting environmental impact assessments on behalf of the oil operator, Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL).
To this end, during the last public consultations hosted in November on the Yellowtail project, the most recent to be approved, environmental activists questioned the independence and credibility of ERM.
Following the virtual consultation, one environmentalist, Simone Mangal-Joly during a live broadcast segment of ‘The Glenn Lall Show,’ a commentary programme, which aired on the Kaieteur Radio, said “I am really quite taken, looking back at the studies [and] the consultant keeps referring to all the previous studies that they have done. There seems to be a long-term relationship between this firm, Esso [Exxon’s partner] and the Environmental Protection Agency in Guyana as it keeps selecting the same firm to do the study for Esso.”

According to Mangal, “the EPA Act requires that the firm is independent. You cannot claim independence when you have a long-term relationship doing all of the studies for the applicant [Esso] because you have a financial relationship now. This is a firm that established itself in Guyana and is doing all of Exxon‘s work effectively. It is not independent and Guyanese need to look at the EPA for failing to do its duty,”
Emphasizing the law, Mangal noted that the relationship between the three entities leaves many questions.
“The EPA Act is very clear, there must be independence and that independence has to be judged on serious criteria… Do you really think a firm is independent when they keep doing the studies one after the other? Are they the only qualified firm to do the job over and over again? And why is Guyana’s EPA failing the nation by not looking into this practical pattern that it is responsible for? ” questioned the environmentalist.
Earlier this month, the EPA in a statement to the media explained that the agency is now in the process of compiling a list of competent Consultants to conduct EIAs here in Guyana.
It said it is currently developing a “fair and robust system for compiling this list of approved persons with appropriate qualifications and experience to conduct EIAs.”
In the interim, the EPA noted that it currently approves Consultants on a case by case basis, informed by the respective agency’s qualifications and experience in conducting environmental studies, similar to what is required.
Mangal-Joly however responded to the EPA statement, arguing that the Environmental Protection (EP) Act does not allow for Consultants to be selected on a case by case basis, but is in fact pellucid when it comes to the selection process.
She reasoned, “There is nothing in the Act that speaks to an alternative means through which the EPA may select qualified persons to conduct EIAs. Whether one does it on a case-by-case basis or from a pool, or whether it is a local or foreign individual or company, Section 3(a) of the Act is clear that the Agency cannot select the consultants by itself; the selection must be done “with the assistance of internationally recognised environmental groups.” This is specifically to avoid bias and underhandedness.”
Back in December last year, a group of environmentalists had challenged the independence and credibility of ERM, since the Consultant has been the lone agency that has conducted all of the EIAs required for ExxonMobil’s projects, offshore Guyana.
The experts Alfred Buhlai, Vanda Radzik, Janette Bulkan, Denuta Radzik, Jerry Jailall, Simone Mangal-Joly, Alissa Trotz and Maya Trotz wrote to the EPA requesting that it disclose the list of other qualified consultants, from which the ERM was selected to conduct the Yellowtail EIA.