With the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the US$900 million gas-to-shore project set to begin in the near future, participants in the public scoping meetings currently being held by ExxonMobil are of the opinion that the EIA should be halted until the withdrawn 2020 guidelines are reinstated and more details about the project are disclosed.
On June 22, the EPA announced it had withdrawn the revised EIA Guidelines (2020) for Mining, Forestry, Hydropower, Thermal Power, Electricity Transmission, and Offshore Petroleum Exploration and Production, to facilitate broader consultations.
The EPA had further advised that the EIA Guidelines (2000), Volumes 1-5 (Generic; Forestry; Mining; and Electricity Generation), would be in effect until further notice.