Environmental

Protection
Agency

______________________________________________________________
MEDIA RELEASE
SCOPING MEETINGS AND TERMS AND SCOPE GUIDES EIAS

July 15, 2021 - The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has taken note of two erroneous
articles in the Kaieteur News. The first article was published on Saturday, July 10, 2021, under the
headline, “EPA replaces new guidelines with outdated model 6 days before asking Exxon Mobil
to do EIA for US$900M gas to energy project,” and the second, Wednesday, July 14, 2021, under
the headline, “Public Consultations, a farce masquerading as disclosure.”
The EPA hereby issues the following corrections:
Environmental Guidelines
 The new set of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) guidelines were retracted pending
more extensive consultation to adequately reflect the contributions from diverse
stakeholders through wider public participation. This action is not related to any project
seeking environmental authorization from the Agency.

 The retracted guidelines were not restricted to oil and gas, but rather were a suite of
guidelines relevant to a number of sectors, including mining, forestry, hydropower, thermal
power and electricity transmission.

 Guidelines are not mandatory for the conduct of EIAs. The EPA therefore reiterates that
the retraction of the 2020 guidelines will in no way affect the quality of the EIA. The EPA
is working assiduously to have additional consultations on these guidelines before they are
finalized.

Conduct of EIAs
 Section 11 (8) of the Environmental Protection Act states: “The Agency after consultation
with the person chosen to carry out the environmental impact assessment, sets the terms
and scope of the environmental impact assessment, taking into account any submissions
made from members of the public.” The EPA always ensures that EIAs are conducted by
independent and suitably qualified persons or entities approved by the Agency.

 The Environmental Protection Act and terms and scope developed for each project seeking
environmental authorization are what’s important to guide the conduct of an EIA and not
only any available Guidelines.
 Environmental
Protection
Agency

 The meetings currently being conducted for the ‘Gas to Energy’ project are public scoping
meetings. The primary purpose of a public scoping meeting is to obtain from members of
the public those questions and matters which they require to be answered or considered in
the EIA.
 Publication of Notice: The EPA is only required by law to publish a notice of its decision
that an EIA is required for a project, notifying that the public has 28 days from the date of
publication to make written submissions to the Agency, setting out those questions and
matters which they require to be answered or considered in the EIA.
Section 11 (7) of the Act states as follows:
“Members of the public shall have twenty-eight days from the date of publication of the
notice to make written submissions to the Agency setting out those questions and matters
which they require to be answered or considered in the environmental impact
assessment.”
 It is for this reason, that in addition to the public notice, the EPA at its discretion, holds
public scoping meetings to allow for greater public input into the terms and scope for the
conduct of the EIA. Moreover, public scoping meetings cannot provide information on
findings of potential impacts, since the EIA has not been conducted.
 Further, consultations are required to be done during the conduct of the EIA, section 11 (9)
of the EP Act. It is the duty of the consultants to engage with members of the public,
interested bodies and organizations during the conduct of the EIA.

For further information, please contact:

Executive Director
Environmental Protection Agency
Ganges Street, Sophia
Georgetown
225-5471-2
Website: www.epaguyana.org
Email: epa@epaguyana.org