Government Parliamentarian and Attorney-at-Law, Sanjeev Datadin informed the National Assembly today that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is not allowed by law to make public, the US$2B parent company guarantee lodged by ExxonMobil to cover oil spills expenses in the Stabroek Block. Be that as it may, he said anyone is free to go to the regulator’s office to see the document.
Datadin’s clarification was made in response to Opposition parliamentarian Shurwayne Holder, who made his contribution to the 2024 budget debate on Tuesday. Holder lamented the fact that the EPA refuses to make public, Exxon’s US$2B parent company guarantee. He said it is an “unpatriotic” stance by an agency that should be representing the interests of the people.
Datain, in his retort, reminded that the EPA is governed by a statute that outlines what can be disclosed. The US$2B parent company guarantee is not one of those documents that can be placed into the public space. Datadin rejected the perception that there is some clandestine agenda to hide this document, stating, “They (the EPA) are required to keep a register, a ledger of all those documents submitted and it is available for anyone, including the Honourable Member Mr. Sherwin Holder to go to their office between normal business hours and he will be allowed to see it.”
Regarding concerns by Holder that US$2B allocation is inadequate, Datadin said this is irrelevant given that the EPA Act contains an iron-clad protective measure for Guyana. The parliamentarian said this is in the form of “the polluter pays principle.”
Datadin said this forward thinking provision which has been part of the Act since 1966 means: “Whoever causes the pollution, whether it’s from our gas, chicken, the cow, whoever causes the pollution is legally obliged to pay for all of it.”
As a result of this principle, Datadin said Guyana would not be saddled with the cleanup costs for oil spills. Those expenses would be borne entirely by Exxon and partners.