Environmentalist stresses need for fair hearing of appeals against EPA decisions

Environmentalist Simone Mangal-Joly has written the head of the body adjudicating appeals against Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) decisions stressing the need for fair and prejudice-free hearings of matters pertaining to the new proposed bridge over the Demerara River and an ExxonMobil oil exploration programme.

The Environmental Assessment Board (EAB), which presides over the appeals, has come under severe pressure from civil society activists over perceived bias in the conduct of its hearings and flaws in the process.

Last week, after mounting public pressure, which included correspondence from Mangal-Joly, the EAB  suddenly announced that hearings of the appeals of the EPA decisions not to require Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) for the bridge project and a 12-well exploration and drilling in  the offshore Canje Block by Exxon’s subsidiary Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL)  had been put on hold until further notice. The EAB said that this was done for the EPA to provide more answers.