We write in connection with two articles published in the Kaieteur News. One on September 6, 2023, under the headline, “EPA gives nation 22 days to study over 3000 pages of technical data for public consultation on ExxonMobil’s 6th project,” and the other on September 12, 2023, under the headline “Deliberate distraction to host public meetings for ExxonMobil’s 6th project during cricket – Civil Society Members”.
As part of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process, whenever an EIA is completed and submitted, the Consultant and the Developer are legally required by section 11(10) of the Environmental Protection Act Cap 20:05 to publish a notice about the planned project or development, for which the EIA was conducted (See attached notice published).
This kickstarts a 60-day statutory period of public review whereby members of the public can make submissions to the EPA as they consider appropriate. The Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and other associated documents are uploaded on the website of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), placed at the National Library, the Library at the University of Guyana, and sent to all the Regional Administrations throughout the country. This is the only legal requirement stipulated in the Environmental Protection Act and part of the process for Environmental Impact Assessments.
The EPA acknowledges, as emphasized by Executive Director Kemraj Parsram during his discourse with a Kaieteur News reporter, that there was a glitch on the EPA website, which resulted in certain documents being temporarily unavailable (No more than 1-2 days). However, during this time, the document was always available elsewhere as stated, as well as directly from the EPA office.
In addition, the website glitch has already been fixed and the required 60-day period for the document to be available has always been satisfied. As such, the notion that the EPA allowed only 22 days for the document to be available for public review is misconceived and incorrect.
However, to facilitate wide participation of the public, the EPA at its discretion facilitates in-person public meetings. This has been the practice for decades now. In-person (or disclosure) meetings are held with various community groups in all Administrative Regions along the coast (i.e. Regions 1-6) and public notices are placed in local media houses and on social media platforms. These are all part of the EPA’s efforts to achieve the widest circulation possible and the process outlined above was duly followed in keeping with the statutory requirement of the 60-day period for public review.
Finally, the EPA notes that the statutory requirement of the 60-day period for public review ends on October 21, 2023, thereby allowing all citizens to participate in these discourse meetings at any of the meetings as published in the various media mentioned previously.
Environmental Protection Agency
