THE Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will be reviewing over 1,000 operation permits, including those which were issued to large companies.

“My plan is to review every permit to see that they are in line with what they are doing and even consider if the permit should be revised based on current operations,” said Executive Director of the EPA, Dr. Vincent Adams during an exclusive interview with the Guyana Chronicle, on Tuesday. An operation permit is defined as legally-enforceable documents designed to improve compliance.

The review of those documents, form part of the EPA’s “big activities” which the authority had embarked on at the start of this year. Early this year, the EPA conducted a week-long review of Demerara Distillers Limited’s (DDL) entire operations at Diamond, East Bank Demerara.

The review was done in the wake of residents’ complaints that they were being negatively affected by the operation of the beverage giant‘s biomethanation plant and environmental infringements. “DDL has been a good experience…we are now working with DDL to get everything in line and ensure they return to compliance,” said Dr. Adams, adding that DDL plans to establish an entire environmental department which will be equipped with the best technology.

After having established a stronger relationship with DDL, the EPA plans on move on to other large companies such as Banks DIH Ltd. “We have already placed Banks DIH on our schedule and very soon, within weeks, we will be reviewing them,” said Dr. Adams.
He said the company will not be reviewed because the agency found anything wrong, but because it (the agency) wants to ensure that everything is in order. The executive director said the EPA is not going after any company because something is wrong, but to rather ensure that everything is in order. “When I arrived there, there were 1,200 permits and 500 of those had expired, that raised a red flag and told us we need to go out there,” said Dr. Adams, noting that the agency did not have the capacity or equipment in the past to work efficiently, but that has changed significantly.

According to statistics from the EPA, some of the operation permits were expired for more than 10 years. After discovering that so many permits were expired, the EPA had to shift gears because one of the agency’s core responsibilities is to issue permits and ensure that companies are in full compliance with environmental regulations. Since the start of this year, there has been complete focus on getting defaulting companies back in compliance. “We have managed to accomplish a lot so far… 90-95 per cent of those non-compliant companies are now in compliance,” said Dr. Adams. Going forward, the mandate of the EPA remains to ensure that the nation and the people are protected. It intends on doing so by implementing the country’s laws which pertain to environmental regulations.