Caribbean groups object to ‘deficient’ Yellowtail impact study over exclusion

Deterministic Map for Scenario 14—Predicted Transport after 45 Days from an Unmitigated 88,728 BPD (14,196 m3) Subsea Release (Most Credible WCD) of Crude Oil Lasting 30 Days (Jun−Nov) (Source: Yellowtail Development Project EIA)

An alliance of Caribbean organisations have objected to the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the Exxon-led Yellowtail project in the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana, saying that that regional states that could potentially be affected were excluded from the process. 

In a December 15, 2021 letter to Environmental Assessment Board (EAB) Chairman Omkar Lochan, environmentalist Simone Mangal-Joly, on behalf of the Caribbean Coastal Area Management  (C-CAM) Foundation, The Jamaica Fish Sanctuary Network, the Jamaica Environment Trust, the Institute for Small Islands, Fishermen and Friends of the Sea, and Freedom Imaginaries, also says that the EIA is “significantly deficient” as it fails to establish a baseline economic value of the coastal areas of the Caribbean, including Guyana.

“We therefore call on the EPA [Environmental Protection Agency] to reject the EIA until minimum guarantees are established in Guyana,” Mangal-Joly added in the letter.