Dear Editor,
In one of his songs, Johnny Nash sang, “There are more questions than answers, and the more I find out, the less I know.” This is so apt to describe the EPA’s online Forum held on Thursday, and the Government’s proposed Gas-to-Shore project. In a Zoom meeting on Thursday, nearly 80 people joined the Forum. They peppered the EPA with questions but got the canned, prepackaged, bureaucratic responses where words were used but nothing was said to enlighten the participants whose enquiring minds wanted to know the finer details about the gas project. There were distinguished Guyanese in attendance (including many in the Diaspora) such as Professor Jannette Bulkan, Professor Maya Trotz, the Oil and Gas Governance Network’s head – Darshanand Khusial, Mike Persaud and Dr. Jerry Jailall, Dr. Marie Correia, Dr. Raquel Thomas, Dr. David Singh, Simone Mangal-Joly, Roweena, David Modeste, marine biologists and others. It was heartening to know that so many Guyanese were concerned and cared about the impact of this proposed project. Only if they will all form a united front and raise their voices will our Government pause and listen rather than to sign another secret, “Dollar Store” deal with Exxon as the PNC did. We should not sit idly by and let successive governments screw the nation with bad deals. The inadequacy of the Guyana Environmental Protection Agency was on full display as the apparent young, inexperienced staff could not provide answers to most questions, or dodged questions altogether. The Exxon guy who was there was shielded from questions that Exxon should answer.
Sincerely,
Dr. Jerry Jailall