Residents of Houston Gardens/Plantation Houston Estates and surrounding communities have expressed grave concern about a proposal by an oil services company to store large quantities of chemicals at Industrial Site, Ruimveldt.
They have written to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) raising a series of concerns and seeking assurances. As reported in yesterday’s Sunday Stabroek, international oilfield chemical company Nalco Champion has applied to the EPA for authorisation to operate a chemical warehouse facility at Ruimveldt Industrial Estate. According to a notice in Stabroek News, Nalco Champion Guyana has submitted an application for an Environmental Authorisation for the operation of a chemical warehousing facility at the John Fernandes Ltd. Inland Terminal, at 4055 Industrial Site, Ruimveldt, and the transportation of chemicals from the Inland Terminal to John Fernandes’ Water Street port for transfer to the Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessels offshore Guyana. The facility at the Inland Terminal facility will be engaged in the filtration, storage and warehousing of oilfield chemicals to supply the FPSO vessels that will be offshore of Guyana. The proposed operation estimates that 1,493,000 kg of specialty and commodity chemicals will be imported and stored onsite and will occupy 5,000 square metres with the intention of extending to 20,000 square metres as oil production increases.