Proposed oil spill law will dismantle Court Ruling for unlimited parent company guarantee – Former EPA Director

Apr 30, 2024 Court Stories, ExxonMobil, Features / Columnists, News, Oil & Gas

Former Director of the Environmental Protection Agency, Dr. Vincent Adams

Kaieteur News – The Government of Guyana is drafting a new Oil Spill Protection Law to be tabled before the August recess of the National Assembly, but according to Former head of the Environmental Protection Agency, Dr. Vincent Adams it will only serve to undermine protection to the country and in fact, undermine the High Court ruling for an unlimited parent company guarantee.

According to Adams, “…the legislation would replace Judge (Sandil) Kissoon’s ruling with (ExxonMobil President Alistair) Routledge’s dictate reverently parroted by VP Jagdeo and Attorney General (AG) Nandlall that only “credible and reasonable” costs will be paid for an oil spill – the same words now sanctified in the recent Whiptail permit, and no doubt a precursor of what to come.”

He suggested in a recent public missive, “in subservience to Exxon and realising that they will lose the legal battle, the Government now plots its heralded scheme for an oil spill legislation to nullify Judge Kissoon’s decision decreeing that an Unlimited Parent Company Guarantee (UPCG) must be provided to bear the full cost of any oil spill, above what the insurance covers.”

At Article 14.3 of the permit, he said it unambiguously lays down that “the cumulative amount of insurance and assurance shall be guided by an estimate of the sum of the reasonably credible costs. Such amount is not expected to include compensation for loss and damage to other parties and which are able to be pursued through civil proceedings.”  In other words, other parties—individuals and businesses such as fisherfolk—would be on their own, fighting for their lives in a lopsided court battle against a behemoth.

According to Adams “the legal trickery is that “credible and reasonable” damages could only be defined as the estimated difference between the existing environmental condition and the condition after the spill. Thus, it is impossible to arrive at this estimate, since there is no Government baseline showing the existing environmental condition.” Adamant “a spill without that UPCG could beget Guyana’s financial bankruptcy; and, a health and environment catastrophe for the whole Caribbean,’ Adams posits “this callous and immoral legislative scheme is a pathetic betrayal of our country and the Caribbean, while bringing merriment to Routledge and Exxon.” He concedes “…the sad reality is that any such legislation will pass in Parliament due to the PPP/C’s one-seat majority, and most critically, it will take primacy over the Judge Kissoon decision. I challenge the Government to prove me wrong by expressly including the underlying ratio of Judge Kissoon’s ruling into the legislation. Do that, and I will be the first to apologize and celebrate.”

According to the former EPA Head, “oil spill legislation provides for the processes for preparedness, response actions, and the identification of culpable parties and their liabilities in the event of a spill,” ad suggests “all of these could be provided for, and be embodied into the EPA Permits and the National Oil Spill Response Plan.” As such, Adams is of the view “a legislation is not necessary in these circumstances, but only serves as a camouflage to get out of the legal pickle and to please Routledge at our people’s expense.”

He further contends “what is most troubling, is that coupled with his manifestation of lack of knowledge and untruthfulness discussed later, the AG (Attorney General, Anil Nandlall) is openly behaving in Judas like fashion as Exxon’s AG and not Guyana’s.” To this end he references the AG joining Exxon, “disloyally fighting with his last breath to defeat Guyana’s life-and-death needfulness for the UPCG, despite his own confessed words that Exxon has a bad international reputation and he will never defend them. He has gone way beyond defending, to joining them at the hip. My opinion therefore, is that he is not fit to serve as AG whose first duty is to protect the people of Guyana. We deserve much better!”

Nandlall has already broadcasted his intention for the legislation when he unabashedly declared that “the Government (not the courts), must determine the level of protection the country should receive for an oil spill.” Further rubbishing recent arguments by the Attorney General, Alexander noted that “Nandlall flat out lied that there was no UPCG in the EPA permits under the Coalition. How is it possible that an AG who is fighting so vexedly to conjoin Exxon against the UPCG, not know that the UPCG was first put into the Liza 2 permit since 2019 under the Coalition?” According to Adams, “the fact is that after its first placing in the Liza 2 permit in 2019 under the Coalition, the UPCG was next put into the Payara permit which was written under my supervision, but signed by Acting Director Razack, while I was on leave in September 2020.” He added that the PPP/C Government then copied the exact UPCG clause into the revised Liza 1 permit in April 2022, and later into the Urau and Yellowtail permits, but now replaced it with the “credible and reasonable” deception in the Whiptail permit to support their oil spill legislation stunt.

Adams in further seeking to clear the air said “Nandlall continues to spout his stupidness about “unlimited insurance”, despite being taught untold times that it is “unlimited parent company guarantee” and not his ignorant “unlimited insurance”.  To this end, he is of the view “this means that the AG either does not read, he doesn’t understand what he reads, or he is flat out lying to cover-up for Exxon to the detriment of Guyana. For the AG’s sake, I will explain for the umpteenth time in its most simplistic form, the basics of the UPCG.” Additionally, the former EPA Head observed that Jagdeo continues to pedal his “idiocy that EMGL (ExxonMobil Guyana Limited) has some kind of fictitious $20 Billion USD in assets which could be seized.” To this end, Adams posits, “the VP should have at least read the Contract to learn that all of EMGL’s “movable, permanent and fixed” assets belong to Guyana, and will be transferred “free of cost”, upon contract termination. Laughably put, he is touting that the Government seize its own assets.”

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