Coil:Fracking up Guyana?
By Vidyaratha Kissoon
“We do Prithvi Puja to give thanks to Mother Earth, we depend on prithvi for our food, our clothes, our medicines our existence, we honour her with this puja” the Pandit said in the soft voice which could change into song at any time. It is a nice imagery , the all powerful Mother nurturing humans and doing the small worship as a way of remembering.
Another man talking , smooth voice , no distinct accent..
“.. around 17 wells will be drilled in to the reservoirs, half of these are production wells taking the precious hyrdocarbons up to the surface.. the other half are water and gas injection wells, as the reservoir depletes, the pressure drops, water and gas injection helps to maintain pressure and maximise oil recovery..this technology will set an industry record for deep water gas injection” in the ExxonMobil video which was launched just before Mash Day when the rains fell and flooded some places.
A different imagery from the pandit’s vision – the man from Exxon with the jukking up of the mother to suck out precious hydrocarbons to make Guyanese rich , and when the mother can’t give no more, putting in ‘water and gas’ to suck out every last drop. Technology like a turbo-charged ‘ol higue’ .
The technology sounds like “fracking” – hydraulic fracturing .. a process which has been in use for a long time on land and which has come under scrutiny.
France, Denmark, Scotland, Bulgaria, and Germany have banned fracking.
The concerns have been about the pollution of ground water and the water. There are concerns about catalysing of of seismic activity – that Guyana could get earthquake and so with all the water and gas putting pressure on the seabed to suck out the precious hydrocarbons.
The State of California has filed a lawsuit to ban fracking in the seas off the Californian coastline. They claim that the regulatory agencies have not done enough to protect the citizens. The Attorney General Kamala Harris reportedly said “We must balance our energy needs with our longstanding commitment to protecting our natural resources and public health.”
ExxonMobil is going to be involved in the suit.
This suit would be be like the Mayor and City Council filing a law suit against the Government to say that the parking meter contract would be violated because Georgetown could disappear in an earthquake or go under water.
Does Guyana’s Environmental Protection Agency have any guidelines or permits or policies or studies on the impacts of the technology which was being explained by the nice voice from ExxonMobil ?
According to that nice voice, the ExxonMobil ‘ol higue’ technology would be in use for two decades or four presidential term limits.
Twenty years is not a long time – it has been 29 years since Exxon was involved in the infamous oil spill which cost billions of US dollars to clean up. Exxon still has not paid up all of the money, waiting on science and research to confirm that the damage was really done.
ExxonMobil denied the science around climate change for many years, and who knows whether ExxonMobill has information about the long term damage of fracking long after they have made Guyanese prosperous.
Guyana’s Constitution, dodgy which it might be if the recent ruling by the Court of Appeal is to go by, has many references to the natural environment.
Article 25. Every citizen has a duty to participate in activities designed to improve the environment and protect the health of the nation
Article 36 : The well-being of the nation depends upon preserving clean air, fertile soils, pure water and the rich diversity of plants, animals and eco-systems
Article 149(J) which was assented to by the same President who assented to the two-term ruling and who now want more terms
“149J. (1) Everyone has the right to an environment that is not harmful to his or her health or well-being.
(2) The State shall protect the environment, for the benefit of present and future generations, through
reasonable legislative and other measures designed to –
(a) prevent pollution ; and ecological degradation
(b) promote conservation; and
(c) secure sustainable development and use of natural resources while promoting justifiable economic and social development.
A woman told me that after many years, water came into her house on that Mash day . She isn’t sure why – “but it looked like rain water so I stood up and made my breakfast and lunch” She will be adapting, trying to build short walls against future water incursions.
The country which cannot manage its drainage system properly is hoping to manage an industry which in addition to its potential of prosperity for all, also has the potential to cause more damage than water in people’s houses.
Fracking up Guyana..
What if the fracking process were applied to Guyana? What if, instead of the ‘precious hydrocarbons’ which are to be pressured out of the seabed after millions of year, that the resources which are precious refer to the talents and abilities of the people who could harness the natural resources in a sustainable way?
What if the fracking pressure is not self-serving leadership but a governance environment which says that Guyana’s potential does not lie in 20 years of fracking out the hydrocarbons but rather in the potential of its citizens to design a future in which is less dependent on the risk of oil and chemical spills and earthquakes.? And that the ol-higue technology would be transformed to technology which nurtures rather than depletes?
How could we make it so that fracking up Guyana resulted in real sustainable development ?
“We do Prithvi Puja to give thanks to Mother Earth, we depend on prithvi for our food, our clothes, our medicines our existence, we honour her with this puja” the Pandit said in the soft voice which could change into song at any time. It is a nice imagery , the all powerful Mother nurturing humans and doing the small worship as a way of remembering.
Another man talking , smooth voice , no distinct accent..
“.. around 17 wells will be drilled in to the reservoirs, half of these are production wells taking the precious hyrdocarbons up to the surface.. the other half are water and gas injection wells, as the reservoir depletes, the pressure drops, water and gas injection helps to maintain pressure and maximise oil recovery..this technology will set an industry record for deep water gas injection” in the ExxonMobil video which was launched just before Mash Day when the rains fell and flooded some places.
A different imagery from the pandit’s vision – the man from Exxon with the jukking up of the mother to suck out precious hydrocarbons to make Guyanese rich , and when the mother can’t give no more, putting in ‘water and gas’ to suck out every last drop. Technology like a turbo-charged ‘ol higue’ .
The technology sounds like “fracking” – hydraulic fracturing .. a process which has been in use for a long time on land and which has come under scrutiny.
France, Denmark, Scotland, Bulgaria, and Germany have banned fracking.
The concerns have been about the pollution of ground water and the water. There are concerns about catalysing of of seismic activity – that Guyana could get earthquake and so with all the water and gas putting pressure on the seabed to suck out the precious hydrocarbons.
The State of California has filed a lawsuit to ban fracking in the seas off the Californian coastline. They claim that the regulatory agencies have not done enough to protect the citizens. The Attorney General Kamala Harris reportedly said “We must balance our energy needs with our longstanding commitment to protecting our natural resources and public health.”
ExxonMobil is going to be involved in the suit.
This suit would be be like the Mayor and City Council filing a law suit against the Government to say that the parking meter contract would be violated because Georgetown could disappear in an earthquake or go under water.
Does Guyana’s Environmental Protection Agency have any guidelines or permits or policies or studies on the impacts of the technology which was being explained by the nice voice from ExxonMobil ?
According to that nice voice, the ExxonMobil ‘ol higue’ technology would be in use for two decades or four presidential term limits.
Twenty years is not a long time – it has been 29 years since Exxon was involved in the infamous oil spill which cost billions of US dollars to clean up. Exxon still has not paid up all of the money, waiting on science and research to confirm that the damage was really done.
ExxonMobil denied the science around climate change for many years, and who knows whether ExxonMobill has information about the long term damage of fracking long after they have made Guyanese prosperous.
Guyana’s Constitution, dodgy which it might be if the recent ruling by the Court of Appeal is to go by, has many references to the natural environment.
Article 25. Every citizen has a duty to participate in activities designed to improve the environment and protect the health of the nation
Article 36 : The well-being of the nation depends upon preserving clean air, fertile soils, pure water and the rich diversity of plants, animals and eco-systems
Article 149(J) which was assented to by the same President who assented to the two-term ruling and who now want more terms
“149J. (1) Everyone has the right to an environment that is not harmful to his or her health or well-being.
(2) The State shall protect the environment, for the benefit of present and future generations, through
reasonable legislative and other measures designed to –
(a) prevent pollution ; and ecological degradation
(b) promote conservation; and
(c) secure sustainable development and use of natural resources while promoting justifiable economic and social development.
- It shall not be an infringement of a person’s rights under paragraph (1) if, by reason only of an allergic condition or other peculiarity, the environment is harmful to that person’s health or well-being.
A woman told me that after many years, water came into her house on that Mash day . She isn’t sure why – “but it looked like rain water so I stood up and made my breakfast and lunch” She will be adapting, trying to build short walls against future water incursions.
The country which cannot manage its drainage system properly is hoping to manage an industry which in addition to its potential of prosperity for all, also has the potential to cause more damage than water in people’s houses.
Fracking up Guyana..
What if the fracking process were applied to Guyana? What if, instead of the ‘precious hydrocarbons’ which are to be pressured out of the seabed after millions of year, that the resources which are precious refer to the talents and abilities of the people who could harness the natural resources in a sustainable way?
What if the fracking pressure is not self-serving leadership but a governance environment which says that Guyana’s potential does not lie in 20 years of fracking out the hydrocarbons but rather in the potential of its citizens to design a future in which is less dependent on the risk of oil and chemical spills and earthquakes.? And that the ol-higue technology would be transformed to technology which nurtures rather than depletes?
How could we make it so that fracking up Guyana resulted in real sustainable development ?
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