Dear Editor,
The Oil and Gas Governance Network (OGGN) would like to encourage all Guyanese – in the Diaspora and at home – to save the date for the EPA/Exxon Zoom public consultation this Thursday, November 11, from 6:00 -8:00 pm, Guyana Time. For New York, USA and Toronto, Canada, it is 5:00 to 7:00 pm, EST. (Zoom Meeting link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86236094817?pwd=SnRmTUdEM2JJajJaRVQzZEtKb0FaUT09, Meeting ID: 862 3609 4817, Passcode: 922752). We thank the EPA for responding to calls from concerned Guyanese for addition of this Zoom forum. We trust that most of the time at Thursday’s meeting will be allocated for citizen input so all questions can be asked and answered and stakeholder views are voiced. This is the final consultation and we encourage all Guyanese in the regions who were unable to attend in person to join this Zoom forum. Specifically, no consultations were held in Regions 7, 8, 9 and 10 so we encourage people in these regions to join this online forum.
The Yellowtail Project would be the largest project estimated to produce 250,000 barrels per day. The bigger the project, the bigger are the potential environmental and operational risks and problems. The Government’s recent disclosures that they have been unable to complete audits of US$9.5 billion expenses by Exxon in the two-year limit allowed for Liza 1 and Liza 2 wells, due to lack of capacity, is quite disconcerting. Since the Government side has raised the issue of lack of capacity with respect to audits, we are led to ask what other lack of capacities do we have now and will potentially have, when Yellowtail gets on stream. The Yellowtail project on a fast track for approval raises severe concerns about the Guyana government’s capacity to perform additional responsibilities for the new, bigger Yellowtail project. The OGGN believes that when you are ill-prepared to do proper oil governance and monitoring, you slow down, not speed up the process of approval of new projects. Yellowtail should not be rushed unless we negotiate a longer time to complete audits of oil expenses, unless the Government can secure adequate services to perform its governance and environmental monitoring, and ensuring there is comprehensive and adequate insurance coverage. We must not repeat the mistakes of Liza 1, Liza 2, and Payara.
How does the EPA/Government intend to find additional qualified and experienced personnel to do environmental monitoring? How will we get oil engineers and technical experts to understand and enforce the provisions of the EIA? Additionally, the mid-year Bank of Guyana 2021 Report shows that “fish and shrimp production declining for two years now” (KN, Oct. 27, 2021). While there are no independent studies by the government about the effects these oil operations have on the nation’s marine life, there is speculation that the significant reduction in the production of white belly shrimp was caused by a change in salinity of coastal waters, resulting from the ongoing exploration, drilling and production of crude by ExxonMobil. When the Payara and Yellowtail wells come on stream, will the salinity problem get worse if they are dumping the produced water in the sea? This should trigger our environmental consciousness. Therefore, we encourage all Guyanese to get very concerned about what is happening in oil and gas. Please join the Zoom meeting on Thursday, November 11.
Sincerely,
Dr. Jerry Jailall
Oil and Gas Governance Network
(www.OGGN.org)