Guyana’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is working towards completing the country’s National Oil Spill Response plan by June, ahead of first oil from the Liza Phase 1 Development project.
EPA Director, Kemraj Parsram says “tremendous progress” has been made over the months on the plan and at present the agency is “finalizing the actual structure to answer the way we respond, by what means, by what resources; we’re actually finalizing that at this point in time.”
The National Oil Spill Response Plan which is being developed is intended to be broad-based, focusing on mitigating both onshore and offshore risks. This is particularly important since a number of vessels traverse Guyana’s inland waters and roadways on a daily basis with fuel and other chemicals.
“We expect that by the middle of this year – within another 2 to 3 months, we should have a plan. When we get to that stage, that plan will then be shared across the country so that the stakeholders who are part of that plan will become aware of what their roles and responsibilities are,” Parsram told those gathered at the Umana Yana in Georgetown on Tuesday, for the first round of public scoping meetings being held for the Payara Development project.
