EPA still reviewing Schlumberger application for radioactive storage facility
Schlumberger Guyana Inc’s application for the operation of a source storage and calibration building, which includes radioactive source storage, at Houston, East Bank Demerara, is still being reviewed by the Environmental and Protection Agency (EPA).
Schlumberger Guyana Inc told Stabroek News last week that there was no update on the application process.
EPA Head Kemraj Parsram, in an invited comment, said, “We have not granted any permission as yet. The application is still under review.”
He said that the company was requested to submit additional documents and those were also being looked at in the review process. Subsequent to a court injunction, following a legal challenge by residents of Houston, the company filed a new application for environmental permits. The new application has been met with strong resistance from residents and other stakeholders in proximity to the operations.
During a public engagement in January, and despite its efforts and assurances that the operation of a radioactive source storage and calibration would cause no harm, a group of residents of Houston and nearby communities adamantly told representatives of Schlumberger Guyana Inc that they did not want the operation in their community. Residents said they were not pleased or convinced that the explanations given were sound. They said Schlumberger’s objective was about making money and the explanations given were intended to make the company “look good.”
Asked if Schlumberger Inc was prepared to conduct an Environment Impact Assessment (EIA), Schlumberger’s attorney Kyle Prescod said the company was, “in the hands of the regulators and whatever the regulators say is required we will have to respect and adhere to.” He added that the EPA will have to determine whether the project requires an EIA
or an updated and developed Environmental Assessment and Management Plan (EAMP). Nonetheless, he stated that the company has been executing its own assessment and monitoring of the facility to ensure that it would be compliant with all international operating guidelines.
Justice Nareshwar Harnanan had ruled in December that the EPA breached its statutory duty by issuing environmental permits to Schlumberger Guyana Inc and waiving the requirement for an EIA for the construction of a radioactive chemical facility. The judge noted that the EPA had not given reasons for its decision. As a result, Justice Harnanan ordered the quashing of the environmental permit issued by the EPA on June 9, 2021 in favour of Schlumberger. He also declared that the decision of the EPA to not conduct an EIA into the effects of the construction of the facility was illegal, ultra vires, unreasonable, and irrational, for breaching the Environmental Protection Act, Cap.20:05.