–still has some ways to go

THE National Oil-Spill plan is at a stage where it is still being reviewed by the Department of Energy, Minister of State Joseph Harmon said on Friday during his weekly post-Cabinet media briefing.

“Since then, we have had the new head of the Environmental Protection Agency, who has brought on board important skills when looking at these issues,” he said.
“It is going through some additional reviews on these different skillsets, which is now being brought to our attention,” he told media operatives here on Friday.

When the Civil Defence Commission (CDC) held a Stakeholders’ Consultation on the draft National Oil Spill Contingency Plan earlier in the year, Minister of Natural Resources, Raphael Trotman had reassured the public that the government will spare no effort in preparing for the eventuality of an oil spill.

He had said back then that the contingency plan was being prepared in accordance with what obtains internationally and with the involvement of such key partners as the Government of Trinidad and Tobago and the United States Coast Guard, and that training had already commenced.

He had also said that as a signatory to the United Nations International Maritime Organisation (IMO) Convention on Oil Pollution Preparedness, Response and Cooperation (OPRC), there are certain regulations that Guyana will have to put in place.
As far back as 2010, Guyana signed on to the Cartagena Convention and all three of its protocols, including the “Protocol Concerning Co-operation in Combating Oil Spills in the Wider Caribbean Region.”

The Guyana government’s ‘Green-State Development Strategy (GSDS)’ which prioritises the protection and preservation of the environment for current and future generations, has as one of its guiding principles the sustainable management of natural resources.
This includes the entire coastal area where fishing and farming are done, as well as the country’s water resources, both freshwater and offshore, which make up our Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).

In 2017, the Ministry of Natural Resources conducted training of personnel from several key agencies and ministries in both theoretical and practical oil-and-gas management and oil-spill response.

Four containers of oil-spill-response equipment and accessories, including booms, skimmers, dispersants, and personal protective kits were procured, and are presently stored at the CDC’s Alternate National Emergency Operations Centre (ANEOC) at Timehri.
The equipment will soon be pre-positioned at various locations to facilitate easy and timely deployment, should the need arise.