Proposed oil production should be put on hold

Article 149 J of the Constitution mandates that the Government shall protect the environment for the benefit of present and future generations. It is expected to do this through reasonable legislative and other measures designed to prevent pollution and environmental degradation among other things.

Understanding the significance of this Article, citizens continue to voice their concern that the Government is not doing enough to protect Guyana from any environmental disaster that would likely result from ExxonMobil’s operations. In fact, international lawyer, Melinda Janki, told Kaieteur News that she believes the proposed oil production by ExxonMobil should be put on hold. She said that this is necessary since the Government has failed to “come clean” on several fronts.

Janki said that an oil spill can have several devastating obligations on Guyana’s economy as well as its neighbours. She said that from Government’s end, there is a deficit of information which would speak to how such matters would be dealt with. In light of this and other factors, Janki stressed that the Government has failed to live up to its obligations.

The international lawyer then turned her attention to ExxonMobil’s Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), which she finds to be quite questionable, leaving Guyana open to further risk.

Janki noted that the EIA for the Liza well Phase 1 contains a scenario of a well blowout resulting in 20,000 barrels of oil for 30 days i.e. 600,000 barrels of oil. That is over 25 million gallons of oil.

“In that scenario, how will Guyana cope with something that is more than double the size of an Exxon Valdez disaster? The marine environment in Alaska still has not recovered from the 1989 spill. A 2009 status report from the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council found that the ‘Exxon Valdez oil persists in the environment and, in places, is nearly as toxic as it was the first few weeks after the spill. “Although two decades have passed, as much as 16,000 gallons of oil persists in the Sound’s intertidal zones, continuing to poison wildlife.”

Janki added: “…So the Guyanese people are in a very risky and dangerous situation. We have been put there because the government has failed to take expert legal advice, expert financial advice and expert environmental advice. They are in breach of their legal obligations to the people of Guyana.”

The lawyer further noted that Esso’s EIA also says that the prevailing currents are likely to take the oil northwest. So in addition to damaging Guyana, Janki stressed that the oil could also end up harming the nation’s neighbours in the Caribbean.

With this in mind, Janki said that Guyana may well be in breach of its treaty obligations to other sovereign states. She said that trans-boundary liability is a growing issue which does not appear to have been considered in the EIA.

Janki stressed that a well blowout or a spill could wipe out all of the financial benefit that Guyana might get from the proposed oil production from the entire deal, not just from the Liza Phase 1. Each time a new phase is approved; Janki asserted that the risk to Guyana goes up. She said that this proposed oil production should be put on hold until the government can show that they know what the cost to Guyana might be and that it is justifiable. Janki noted that given the aforementioned, there are indeed, grounds for the environmental permit to be challenged.

Janki stressed that the Government of Guyana and the oil companies must respect the Constitution and other laws of Guyana.

(Kaieteur News)