Dear Editor

Despite claims to the contrary, some people, such as Janette Bulkan, have extraordinary privileges in the Guyanese media. While some writers are routinely sidelined by two major newspapers in Guyana, others such as Dr. Janette Bulkan, have their letters not only published but republished as ‘news.’ The latest episode in this incestuous practice surfaced in the June 13 edition of Kaieteur News under the title, “Guyana would be left to foot costs of over US$20B yearly compensating Caribbean islands for an oil spill.” The unreported truth though, is that Janette Bulkan has ignored the greatest oil spills waiting to happen in her own backyard.

The KN report noted above is based on Bulkan’s fantastic and mischievous claims of projected liabilities of EEPGL’s in the case of an oil spill. The fact is Dr. Bulkan’s so called projections are nothing more than wishy-washy environmental economics, combined with a well-defined anti-PPP and anti-Guyana political agenda.

Janette Bulkan lives and works near the most corrupt oil extraction/production operation in the world, something that she hides because the duplicity is a condition of possibility necessary to sustain her image as an environmental activist. Bulkan, like the rest of Canada and the world, knows about the destructive capacity of the Oil Tar Sands of Alberta. The Natural Resource Defense Council (Canada) has noted catastrophic problems with Tar Sands oil in the province next-door to Dr. Bulkan’s place of residence and work, but which she ignores (see https://www.nrdc.org/stories/10-threats-canadian-tar-sands-industry).

Among these problems are – (1) “Tar Sands oil has created havoc on nearby forests; (2) Tar Sands oil development has released huge amounts of toxic wastewater; (3) there is no preparation to deal with Tar Sands oil spills; (4) Tar Sands oil has put rivers and coastlines at risk of oil spills; (5) rail cars carrying Tar Sands crude pass through densely populated areas that are at high risk if there is an oil spill; and (6) low-income communities, including dozens if not hundreds of indigenous communities will be disproportionately impacted. These are only some of the consequences and risks of Dr. Bulkan’s nearby oil resources that are ignored in her environmental activism.

The capacity for environmental genocide by oil from the Tar Sands has been noted by Dr. Bulkan’s prime minister, namely, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Mr. Trudeau has insisted that despite his concerns, Canada will not cut back on production. The oil sands near Dr. Bulkan are so destructive that Inside Climate Change (a Pulitzer Prize winner for climate change reporting) noted the following – “Collectively, the [Tar Sands also known as oil sands] mines’ and deep-extraction projects emit greenhouse gas emissions roughly equal those of 21 coal-fired power plants, and that’s just to get the crude out of the ground (https://insideclimatenews.org/news/21112021/tar-sands-canada-oil/).

The Council of Canadians, a real NGO unlike the politically motivated outfit OGGN to which Janette Bulkan belongs, noted that Indigenous peoples have been subjected to oil-related environmental abuse for more than half a century. We should compare that to the three-year-old Guyana hydrocarbon industry that does not threaten the life of a single Indigenous community. Janette Bulkan should heed the words of the very reputable Council of Canadians which stated that “[t]he most immediate and significantly impacted victims of the financially lucrative and environmentally apocalyptic [oil Tar Sands] are the Indigenous peoples who have lived since time immemorial in the…watershed.”

Has Janette Bulkan and her foreign colleagues in OGGN calculated the actual environmental cost to the Indigenous communities of Canada that have been invaded? Have they calculated the projected cost for clean-up in the case of pipeline failure oil-spills in the pristine and environmentally protected areas close to where Bulkan lives and works? Is there a double-standard whereby Canada is given a bye for its toxic oil development (acknowledged by Mr. Trudeau), whereas Guyana is constantly being harassed by Dr. Bulkan and her mates who refuse to live here?

Ms. Bulkan and her OGGN overseas mates should know that even Kaieteur News has acknowledged that “the quality of Guyana’s oil is premium grade, as in light and sweet” (1/5/2022). Moreover, the technology used to extract Guyana’s oil is light-years ahead of the old technology which contributed to 1971 Gulf of Campeche oil spill which Bulkan uses in making her claims. Dr. Bulkan may be qualified, but that has not stopped her from being extremely biased, a bias which by all indications has political benefits to the opposition forces in Guyana. Is that the real objective in of OGGN’s efforts?

Sincerely

Dr. Randolph Persaud