Guyana’s woman of the year

Dec 28, 2024 Editorial, News

Editorial…

Kaieteur News- We give credit when due, thanks when it’s deserving. Thanks to Attorney-at-Law, Melinda Janki and her team. She aims high, flies high, with her sights now set on ExxonMobil’s seventh oil project, Hammerhead. What the Guyana Government is not doing, has all but thrown up its hands in surrender, Ms. Janki is doing in taking Guyana’s oil fight for safety, fairness, and justice to the courts. A proven warrior for Guyana has Ms. Janki been, and we are with her and her group of determined partners as they gear up for this latest oil test. For her bold and tireless exploits, Ms. Melinda Janki should be recognized as Guyana’s Woman of the Year. Guyana’s First Lady, who may have some ideas of her own about that accolade, should be honest with herself, do the decent thing, and take a seat.

Guyanese want to know their exposures from ExxonMobil’s Hammerhead project. Their concerns stand on sound ground, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) must be in the forefront of wanting to know about any such impact. The world is waging war against pollution from fossil fuels, and Guyana should not be indifferent to the potential dangers to health and environment. It is troubling to say, but the local EPA has been a study in silence and stubborn refusal to adjust its position, or clear the air. The EPA Terms of Reference (ToR) for the Hammerhead Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) do not take into consideration the impact of greenhouse gas pollution originating from this oil project.

The questions could be asked immediately: what kind of EIA is this, when such a necessary component is not given the place that it should? Also, what kind of EPA Guyanese have that such a gaping hole could be in its ToR? The quality of life of Guyanese, the legitimate fears of citizens, have to mean more to the EPA, because if not, then whose interests are first for the agency? Why is it that Guyana’s EPA is so hostile to its mandate, to the law, and to its constituency (Guyanese)? So hostile, so apathetic, that it was unmoved by several pieces of correspondence from attorney Janki pressing for the ToR to be amended? Who and for what reason could be influencing the direction and work of Guyana’s EPA? The only response has been a wall of silence and resistance to date. This is where Guyanese find themselves with the seventh oil project.

When the government (the EPA) fails to do its job, deliver on its responsibilities, then it falls on professionals like Ms. Janki et al to pick up that dropped baton and carry it. By filing a Court action so that Guyanese can get the answers (and security of mind) that they are due, and that the government has an opportunity to right its wrongs. Wrongheaded leadership has plagued Guyana’s oil wealth from the day of its first discovery. Instead of valuable lessons learned, and the proper revisions occurring, worse practices have become the norm, are now enshrined in local oil culture. Citizens need the government as a partner that can be counted upon to be by their side, and fully for their interests. The reality is that they now live with a government that is proud to be in bed with ExxonMobil, and giving it free rein to do as it pleases at the offshore projects. If ever there was an example of incomparable ugliness, it is Guyana’s EPA. The agency shrinks from doing its best (or anything of substance) to protect Guyanese, and hold ExxonMobil to high standards of corporate responsibility.

It is interesting to note that the EPA gives every appearance of constructing its ToR for the EIA, so that anything that would stir anxieties in ExxonMobil’s management is excluded. The greenhouse gas pollution impact is one. The EPA’s cold shoulder to Ms. Janki’s letters, not budging from its flawed position, certainly supports the worst conclusions about its convenient deafness, and embarrassing lethargic state. Melinda Janki should get a medal for her efforts. Government leaders must recover their minds, and help the EPA save face. Finally, Guyanese must get an EIA that reports on pollution impacts of the Hammerhead oil project.

(Guyana’s woman of the year)

Editorial, Environmental Protection Agency, Guyana’s oil fight, Guyana’s woman of the year, Melinda Janki

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