Boots On The Ground: MP Sherrod Duncan In Tobago, Investigating Oil Spill – boat was heading to Guyana

Alliance for Change (AFC) General Secretary and Member of Parliament Sherrod Duncan took a trip to Tobago, the sister island of Trinidad. The party in a statement said it takes Guyana’s nascent oil sector very seriously, as evident by the role played in the Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) of 2016, the best deal at the time, and the resulting largesse that that flowed from it, underpinning all Guyana’s current economic pursuits.

AFC recalled its stewardship of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that protected the nation’s patrimony is also known and bemoaned the agency is now a shadow of its former self.  To this end, the party said it views the oil spill off Tobago’s coast of interest on many fronts.

In the A Partnership of National Unity and Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) administration  (2015-2020) the AFC was assigned ministerial responsibility for the oil and gas sector, including heading the EPA and Guyana Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (GYEITI).

Last Friday, Trinidad’s Daily Express newspaper reported “The spill was caused after a barge, the Gulfstream, overturned in Cove Eco Industrial and Business Park, Tobago, on February 8.”

Duncan was dispatched to the location to get a close view of the situation. The trip underscores Guyana’s preparedness should a similar tragedy occur.  Local stakeholders have wrestled with the Government of Guyana and ExxonMobil for enforcement of the US$2 Billion Exxon Parent Company Guarantee to provide environmental guarantee safeguards in Guyana’s national interest should such a scenario occur.

According to the Tobago House of Assembly and Tobago Emergency Management Agency (TEMA), the oil slick measures 48 nautical miles (88 kilometers) long and 0.13 nautical miles (240 meters) wide. The overturned leaking Gulfstream was being towed by a tug, the Solo Creed which has gone missing.

Thursday’s Daily Express Editorial noted Guyanese authorities “confirmed that the vessels were expected [in Guyana] but never arrived. The editorial also noted the  “mystery continues to surround ownership of the tug and barge, its behaviour on its journey to Guyana, and the identity and fate of its crew.”

The affected area has now widened, moving into Grenada’s territorial waters and the Spice Island has in turn contacted the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency and other partners. It is also noted the slick is approaching Venezuela’s northern marine territory.

Trinidadian Energy Expert Anthony Paul, like others, expressed concerns with how Trinidad responded to the event and their space, with Paul noting “we are too long in this game.”

Concern has also been expressed with Guyana’s weak institutions and overwhelming political interference, how would the country fear in a similar situation.

Thursday Duncan paid a courtesy call on Tobago House of Assembly, Chief Secretary and the island’s Head of Government, His Excellency Farley Augustine. Augustine shared how the Tobago administration is responding to the spill off the island’s coast at Scarborough. He also visited the affected areas and two of the command centres. TEMA Director, Allan Stewart explained some of the protocols that underpinned the huge efforts underway in Tobago.