The Oil Pollution Prevention, Preparedness, Response and Responsibility Bill 2025 (the Bill) is nothing but an all-time brazen scam perpetrated by the PPP/C to cancel Judge Kissoon’s decision, and bears out a bold-faced election time deception by the PPP/C that they will include unlimited liability coverage in the Bill after waging a 5-year rabid war against it. The Bill contains no such liability and proven so by the fact that they have not withdrawn their court appeal against it. There cannot be liability coverage in the Bill while appealing it at the same time in the courts.
Had it not been so serious a matter, yours truly would have gloated I told you so! pointing to my one-year-old April 30, 2024 letter to the media headlined “Oil Spill legislation is scheme to nullify Judge Kissoon’s ruling for parent company guarantee”. That notwithstanding, Melinda Janki, Guyana’s most distinguished international environmental Attorney describes the Bill as “unconstitutional and an illegal and grave abuse of power by the PPP/C”. Christopher Ram, another of Guyana’s esteemed Attorneys aptly captioned the Bill as “Undoing of Judge Kissoon” in his SN column of May 17, 2025, and the gross incompetence evinced by its “technical deficiencies and legal ambiguities” in his May 13, 2025 SN column.
What we are sadly witnessing in bright daylight, is the betrayal of, and unrelenting assault on the democracy of Guyana via the PPP/C’s skin of the teeth single seat majority emasculating the judiciary by fiat of the party’s Putinesque authoritarianism way, as they overthrow court decisions they don’t like. Nothing was more despicably evident of this assault, than the nation’s chief law enforcement officer contemptuously retrying the case in berating Judge Kissoon during parliamentary debate of the Bill, implying that the Honorable Judge lacks comprehension. This behaviour in any democracy would have warranted proceedings of contempt against AG Nandlall, since he was involved in the case. Readers may recall Ms. Janki on occasions, had to publicly school this man on the nation’s law, and yours truly had to expose his ignorance and laziness unbefitting of the AG’s office in any country, except for dictatorships.
Background facts of unlimited liability coverage
Like other big companies do to insulate themselves from liability, ExxonMobil (Exxon) created EMGL as its subsidiary (child) Limited Liability Company to take on contractual ownership of operations and all liabilities, with EMGL (not Exxon) being the signatory to all documents. Upon realizing that EMGL had no assets to cover the cost of an oil spill that would otherwise bankrupt Guyana and rest of the Caribbean, the APNU+AFC Coalition with agreement of EMGL through their signing of permits, enshrined into law, unlimited liability protection secured by insurance, plus a Parent Co. Guarantee borne by parent Exxon for all costs not covered by the insurance. It has been shocking to witness Nandlall’s incomprehension of such a simple and common concept as he bemoans his imaginary “impossible cost for unlimited insurance”, when in fact, it is not unlimited insurance, but rather, a paper guarantee from Exxon costing nothing. Heedless of Nandlall’s shallowness, this concept is akin to an Insurance Co. covering a certain portion of a health bill for a child with the parent responsible for the remaining amount not covered by the insurance.
Upon taking office, the PPP/C took the most disloyal and callous step to cancel this full liability protection, triggering the lawsuit by Collins & Whyte, culminating in the devastating landmark decision by Judge Kissoon against EPA and EMGL, upholding that the language in the Coalition’s authorizations requiring unlimited liability was “expressed in clear unambiguous terms” and “such a course of action to violate the permit is made permissible only by a derelict, pliant and submissive EPA which has descended into a state of slumber at the critical juncture of an emerging oil sector and has, at every juncture, engaged in a course of action to undermine and erode the terms and conditions of its own permit” and that “The government is submissive and relegated itself to a state of laxity and abdicated its responsibilities, thereby putting this nation and its people in grave potential danger of calamitous disaster”.
Instead of heads rolling and honouring of the Judge’s decision as would take place in any law abiding democratic country, the PPP/C doubled down freely spending taxpayers own money to ferociously fight against them all the way to the Caribbean Court of Justice to dutifully join Exxon in appealing the decision; and to add insult to injury, while the appeal is pending, the Govt thumbed its nose at justice by concocting an Agreement with EMGL which monumentally slashed the unlimited coverage, capping it at $2 Billion USD, a mere 1.3% of the $145 B USD spent to date to clean up the BP Macondo spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Not surprisingly, Nandlall ignorantly sounded off in parliament that the $2B came from the appeals court Judge, when, all the Appeals Judge ordered was to use the $2B already agreed to as surety while awaiting the appeal. What Nandlall did not to mention though, was that the PPP/C stood up in Parliament and misled the world that verification of the $2B is readily available at the EPA for all to see, only for the public to be told by the EPA that any such requests will have to come through court proceedings – naturally smelling like another con that there exists a $2B surety (bond) pending the appeal.
Days prior to the Bill’s release with election fast approaching, and realizing that they will have to face the wrath of the electorate with dire consequences and accountability for selling out the country, Jagdeo and Nandlall attempted to delude the people that they have suddenly undergone an epiphany of the mind and are now the fathers of unlimited liability after five years of waging a vicious war in and out of court against it. They touted that “the Bill doesn’t limit liabilities and there is no cap on the liability” – language unequivocally meaning unlimited liability” to even a 3rd grade pupil; but no level of shame is too much for these men, for would you believe that Nandlall went before Parliament, asininely averring that their words of “doesn’t limit” and “no limit” do not mean “unlimited”! And would you also believe that Jagdeo in his usual unhinged shamelessness, had the gumption to suggest that it was the Opposition that may have been in talks with Exxon about the $2B Cap, and not the PPPC, for the PPPC has always rejected any Cap. Is Guyana a real place with chaps like these at its helm!
Jagdeo’s $14B asset hoax
As the scam of unlimited liability being in the Bill is now unmistakable from the foregoing, the only hint of any financial assurance is Jagdeo’s idiocy about seizing EMGL’s fictitious $14B assets plus the supposed $2.6 B liability Cap and insurance, totaling $16.5B. First, this fella was counseled over and over that all assets belong to the Govt, so, is sheer stupidity to talk about the Govt seizing its own assets; but, to quote Patti Henry, “Desperation fuels one to believe idiocy is insight”. Second, even if one indulges in Jagdeo’s idiocy, where will the Govt find the extra $128.4B to pay for a $145B size Macondo spill after spending the $16.5B?; or, even if half the size, where will we find $56 B which is more than 10 times our entire national budget? The people demand an answer as to why these men are so spinelessly groveling to all of Exxon’s wishes at the dire expense of their own people, including breaking the nation’s laws, as they reverse all of the guardrails put in place by the Coalition and honoured and respected by Exxon.
The Parliamentary hearing
Unable to do the impossible of defending this indefensible Bill against the compelling presentation of MP Shurwayne Holder ably supported by MP Patterson and MP Duncan, the PPP/C gentlemen decided to sillily invoke my name as a distraction.
Minister Indar waved a supposed US EPA document claiming it to have guided the Bill, and suggesting that yours truly should appreciate it, since I worked for the US EPA. Yes, I indeed worked for both the US Dept. of Energy and the US EPA at the highest levels of the Government leading development and implementation of environmental policies, laws and regulations for the USA and other countries on behalf of the US. I was also Chairman of the USA Chapter of the International Asso-ciation of Environmental Professionals, Chairman of two major International Environmental Conferences, and USA Representative on International Institu-tions such as the International Atomic Energy Agency. Therefore, I am well versed in crafting Bills and many similar documents; so, let me advise the Minister to please not wrap the PPP/C’s abuse of power, totalitarian behavior, incompetence, and disloyalty to its people, in the cloak of a document supposedly stamped USA, for it not only insults the intelligence of the Guyanese people, but also reviles the benchmark standards of the USA for democracy, incorruptibility, competence and following the rule of law. No veneer is good enough to camouflage the fact that Guyana is ranked 76th out of 142 countries with a score of 50% when it comes to the rule of law.
If the document waved by Indar is truly a USA document, then, he should read the sections directing compliance with the laws of the land to which the USA strictly adheres, including compliance with the sacred Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) that the PPPC is nakedly violating by allowing oil production 40% above the safety limit enhancing the risk of a spill, while at the same time having no liability coverage. Further, the Minister champions that an American expert was used in developing the Bill, I therefore call upon the Minister to reveal the name of this “expert” if she/he exists, for she/he should have no problem putting their reputation on the line for scrutiny by their peers in standing behind this Bill.
As always, Minister Bharat has still not learnt that the best way to hide his incompetence is to speak not of what he knows not. Although “Prevention” is the first action word in the Bill’s title, Bharrat is not even able to grasp its most fundamental meaning in universal environmental lingo that it means prevention of an incident and not prevention of spread after an incident. This is the same gentleman who, in order to cover up the unlimited produced gas flaring of over 200 toxic contaminants into the atmosphere, told Parliament that his hands were tied because of a 2 billion cubic feet of gas flaring allowed in the EIA, when no such thing exists. Until the cover of the Plan appeared in the newspapers, this same man also denied the existence of the World Bank’s $1B USD Plan for a 36-member EPA Unit of highly specialized petroleum experts to provide oversight of the industry; so, his utterings have absolutely no credibility!
Nandlall went off incoherently spouting nonsense about the capping stack, including that it was first put in place by the PPPC in theYyellowtail permit, when, the fact is that it was the Coalition which demanded and implemented it in the Payara permit which came before the Yellowtail. Nevertheless, I beg that in the future, he mentions the PPP/C’s tripling of the stack’s deployment time set by the Coalition from 3 to 9 days to please Exxon, thus allowing for a potential extra six days of oil gushing into our ocean.
Further, it is mindboggling that Nandlall still does not understand the basic issues at hand, particularly, his complete lack of comprehension of the difference between insurance and assurance and the simple reasoning behind unlimited liability. All he did was parrot the words in the Bill which were cut and pasted from the EPA Act clearly stating that in accord with the “Polluter Pays Principle”, all Responsible Parties (RP) are liable for all damages. That is an obvious no brainer, except meaningless if the RP has no means to cover a spill as in the case of EMGL, and would declare bankruptcy leaving Parent Co. Exxon to walk away scot free while Guyana is left holding the bag for $billions that will empty our oil coffers and many times more. This is the exact reason why a Parent Company Guarantee was enshrined into law by the Coalition, and don’t know why it is so difficult for Nandlall to grasp.
Spill Incident Board biased make-up to benefit Exxon
The proposed Incident Board responsible for determining claims, comprises of one Representative each from the Ministry of Natural Resources, EPA, and Exxon as the RP, but no representation for the Affected Party (AP) such as small fisherfolk – a blatant bias and unfairness towards the AP, plus a remarkable conflict of interest having Exxon determine its own liability. Even further, in the event of the AP’s dissatisfaction with the Board’s determination, it may choose to seek legal redress, but good luck! with small fisherfolk going up against behemoth Exxon in courts! And to boot, expressions such as “coverage as far as practicable”, and “reasonable and legitimate” are weaselly words to stack the deck in Exxon’s favour.
Addedly, let’s not forget that EMGL refused to pay a paltry fine of $500 for six small spills, so was taken to court by the EPA under the Coalition; but true to form, the PPP/C dropped the case and got rid of the young and brilliant EPA Attorney prosecuting the case. That is to say that the PPP/C takes Guyanese for fools in trying to dupe us into trusting that Exxon will spend tens of $Billions to cleanup a spill in the absence of an unlimited guarantee, when, aided and abetted by the PPP/C, it refused to fork out a mere $500.
The PPP/C is no doubt in a desperation mode to promise and do anything at election time to hold on to power and making Exxon our new colonial masters. As Jagdeo must have learnt from his Russian comrade Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov “There is nobody more terrible than the desperate.”
Respectfully,
Dr. Vincent Adams
