Indigenous villages should be more involved in oil spill response planning – Toshao

Leaders of Indigenous villages should be more involved in oil spill response planning, research and mitigation efforts.
This remark was made by Toshao of Warapoka Village, nestled in the Moruca Region One (Barima-Waini), Jaremy Boyal during an Oil Spill Forum on Wednesday.

In his address to those gathered at Cara Lodge, Georgetown, Boyal issued a call for the Government to liaise more with Indigenous communities, in an effort to effectively implement oil spill risk management systems that are sustainable and take in consideration the livelihood of Amerindians.
According to Boyal, representatives from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and ExxonMobil Guyana have held consultation activities with villages in the region a few times over the years, however, the findings of assessments and surveys are yet to be disclosed with the residents.
On this point, he explained that while Amerindians support oil exploration activities in Guyana, they are still mindful of the detriments associated with drilling into the earth, especially since it poses a threat to their various cultures, and can disrupt eco-tourism, which is the breadbasket for remote
“I think couple years back some of the leaders were part of doing some sort of oil spill response but that was a one-off thing and since then there was none. So, I’m a bit concerned because if or when there is one how do we respond… We just hear one side of the story that there is so much production and there is so much millions,” Boyal said.
Boyal also issued a call for Oil and Gas experts to simplify the technical languages when interacting with indigenous folks.
He explained that the constant use of complex language will only limit Indigenous Peoples contribution to the conversation.
“The only type of consultation we have like I said is the EPA and for two to three hours we will reach with the EPA and Exxon representative and they will give Toshaos a chance to raise questions but most of these documents are in technical form… and some of these leaders are not highly qualified to understand technical language,” he added.

Legislation
In the wake of the recent oil spill off the coast of Tobago, which has resulted in a massive clean-up effort by the Trinidad and Tobago Government, Guyana’s Government has assured that legislation aimed at protecting Guyana from such liabilities would soon be coming.
During one of his weekly press conference, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo indicated that these laws had been in the pipeline long before the spillage off the Tobago coast. Such protection will certainly be important in light of the millions of US dollars usually associated with oil spill clean-ups.
In addition to legislative protection, Guyana already has guarantees from oil producer ExxonMobil, in the unlikely event of an oil spill. Last year following a court ruling, Exxon affiliate Esso Exploration and Production Guyana Limited (EEPGL) had lodged a US$2 billion affiliate insurance guarantee with the EPA.
According to Jagdeo, Exxon’s assets can be sold to cover any expenses related to a spill and in response to questions, he had highlighted how varied and extensive those assets were.
“If I have to list the assets of Exxon, have you read the balance sheet, have you gone to the financial statements and looked at the balance sheets? You should look at that. I have to list every asset that they have and consider something else. We talk about the book value of the assets, let me just give you an idea. You’ve heard about the merger between Chevron and Hess,” Jagdeo had said.
Last year, ExxonMobil Guyana President Alistair Routledge made it clear that Exxon had set up a “long line of defences” to prevent oil spills from occurring. These include applying new technologies to the design of the wells, training personnel, and strict safety practices.
Since 2015, ExxonMobil has announced over 30 discoveries in Guyana, including the Liza, Payara, Snoek, Turbot, Ranger, Pacora, Longtail, Hammerhead, Pluma, Haimara, Tilapia, Tripletail, Mako, Yellowtail, Uaru, and Redtail fields.
Guyana is pumping about 645,000 barrels per day (bpd), up from about 400,000 bpd in late 2023, ExxonMobil said earlier this year.