Residents of Coverden on the East Bank Demerara have written to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) asking that approval for the construction and operation of a treatment facility for oil & gas waste be halted until consultations are held with those that may be directly or indirectly affected.
Global Oil Environmental Services (GOES) recently applied to the EPA seeking approval for the construction and operation of a waste treatment facility for the transfer, storage, treatment, and disposal of Exploration and Production (E&P) oil & gas waste to be located at Block ‘X’ TE Huste, Block I, ‘T’ Huste, Coverden.
The EPA had informed the public of the proposed project on April 6 via a notice and had stated that it was screened and determined by the agency that the project will not significantly affect the environment or human health and so is therefore exempt from the requirement of an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).
A letter addressed to the Board of Directors at the EPA and seen by Stabroek News stated that residents in keeping with EPA regulations and as property owners in the area are requesting an immediate hold on the approval for the construction of the facility unless and until several Town Hall meetings are held by the relevant authorities or agencies with the communities to be affected. According to the letter, this is to evaluate the new development on its future economic, cultural and social impacts upon those communities. In addition, they requested that it be halted until specific assessments are done and published by the relevant authorities or agencies.
They are also requesting that an EIA be conducted so as to ascertain the environmental impact of the proposed operations on the flora, fauna and the water courses of the East Bank Demerara. Additionally, they would also like to know the adverse environmental effects that could result from the implementation of the project and alternatives to the proposed action of the project.
Further, they wanted to know the relationship between local short-term uses of the environment, the maintenance and enhancement of long-term productivity of the waste facility and also, any irreversible or irretrievable commitments of resources that would result from the construction of the facility.
The residents asked to be informed of any probable beneficial impacts to the environment, construction period impact, short- and long-term impacts, irreversible or irretrievable damage or commitment, description of techniques intended to minimise adverse impacts, social impact assessment, cultural impact, economic impact assessment to residences, along with disaster, demographics change and epidemic impact assessments.
The project summary for the construction of the waste treatment facility was not available on the EPA’s website when checked by Stabroek News yesterday.
