Payments from hundreds of defaulters have boosted the coffers of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) which has advertised a number of vacancies as it begins scaling up preparations for oil and gas oversight.
“We have been, as you may recall, collecting a lot of back fees from that over 500 permits that were out of compliance and have been able to hire 20 new employees and buy seven new vehicles,” Executive Director of the EPA, Dr Vincent Adams, told Stabroek News yesterday. Adams had said earlier this year that permits issued for almost 900 operations had expired due to lack of oversight.
“As you have seen, we have put out [Expressions of Interest] for specialists and other portfolios since we plan to hire as many as we can afford to take us to Budget 2020; with the expectation that we will get the budget to cover our needs from next year,” he added.
