Oil services company Nalco Champion has not yet determined whether it will store chemicals at the John Fernandes Ltd (JFL) Inland Terminal at Industrial Site, Ruimveldt, though a company representative said that the location remains the best site.
The revelations came during a public consultation session held by the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CHPA) with residents of the Houston area yesterday. Representatives from the Mayor and City Council, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Guyana Fire Service, the Guyana Office for Investment, the Ministry of Public Infrastructure, JFL and Nalco Champion, were among those present at the consultation at the Houston Secondary School on the East Bank of Demerara.
Nalco’s plans for the storage of chemicals at the Industrial Site location for eventual transfer to the offshore Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) oil platform has triggered protests from residents amidst concerns about possible dangers to nearby communities.
Yesterday, JFL’s Phillip Fernandes told visibly frustrated residents at the consultation that regardless of the meetings that have been held to address the safety concerns expressed about the proposed chemicals storage warehouse, Nalco hasn’t made a decision regarding whether or not they intend to use the warehouse as the destination for the chemicals that are to be brought from their Houston, Texas chemical plant.
“Even though Miller (a Nalco rep) has indicated that chemical will be loaded on to a vessel, the destination for those chemicals has not been determined,” he said.
Despite Fernandes revelation, when asked if they had considered other areas for building the warehouse, a representative of Nalco, Matthew Kufrin, said that they had considered other sites but found that the JFL Inland Terminal is the best location. However, relocating will only become an option pending the outcome of an Environmental Impact Assessment.
Meanwhile, Fernandes indicated that while the company said that a warehouse is not necessary, a shed is, so activities they intend to do can take place in any weather. “There is an application for the shed. We have not received the permission in writing, which is why we have stopped the construction of the shed,” he said.
Last month, the Georgetown city council issued a cease order to halt the construction of the chemical warehouse saying that no permission had been granted.
Fernandes yesterday said that JFL was not aware that they needed to go through a particular process in order to build the shed. But soon after finding out that they needed permission, they halted construction. “When they were told that they were going wrong, they immediately tried to correct their mistake,” he said.
Orsen Simon from the CHPA agreed.
Fernandes also said that the shed is not being built by Nalco and JFL is not interested in doing anything dangerous or hazardous and will not continue with the construction of the shed until they are permitted to do so.
Representatives of residents from Houston Gardens, Roxanne Burnham Gardens, Shirley Field Ridley Square, Rasville and D’Aguiar Park had raised objections to the proposed chemical plant being constructed at the JFL Inland Terminal as they said it may affect the welfare of those communities.
According to a notice published in July by the EPA, Nalco Champion Guyana submitted an application for an Environmental Authorisation for the operation of a chemical warehousing facility at JFL’s Inland Terminal and the transportation of chemicals from the location to John Fernandes’ Water Street port for transfer to the FPSO vessels offshore Guyana.
It explained that the facility at the Inland Terminal site is to be engaged in the filtration, storage and warehousing of oilfield chemicals to supply the FPSO vessels that will be offshore Guyana. The proposed operation estimates that 1,493,000 kg of specialty and commodity chemicals will be imported and stored on-site and will occupy 5,000 square metres, with the intention of extending to 20,000 square metres as oil production increases. The notice added that the proposed development of the operation will also involve the construction of office spaces, installation of a laboratory, storage of mechanical equipment and parts and transportation of chemicals, among other activities.
Subsequently, after residents protested, Nalco Champion representatives announced that they were going to halt all plans for the operations of the chemical warehouse. Their decision to halt plans was made after a visit from the EPA. (Laurel Sutherland)
