Government fine-tuning legislation on oil spill protection -says VP Jagdeo

Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo has announced that the Government is currently fine-tuning a new piece of legislation that seeks to protect the state from responsibilities in the event of an oil spoil, offshore Guyana.

During a press conference on Thursday, Mr. Jagdeo said that the legislative framework will set out the proposed procedures for oil spill preparation, planning and response, as well as issues relating to liabilities and damages.

It will also detail the state’s responsibilities and the responsibilities of those accountable in the event of an oil spill.

“So, we would be equipped now with a tool, a law which says primarily that any company causes a spill, whether it is a shipping company, production company an exploration that they would all be responsible for the cleanup and also that they would be responsible for consequential losses that is the fishermen and so should they be affected, so that is basically the essence of the bill and we are working on this,” Mr, Jagdeo noted.

At an earlier Press Conference, the Vice President had stated that the Government is looking at similar pieces of legislation from other jurisdictions, in an effort to get a fair understanding of the various positions.

He said the goal now, is to get the piece of legislation sent to the National Assembly and passed soon.

“As I said before, want that to get to the Parliament soon, we are going through an intensive process going through the bill with all the technical agencies—EPA, GGMC, it is a tight squeeze to table it before August 12 and pass it but that is one thing we promised,” the Vice President said.

According to Mr. Jagdeo the new legislative framework will further strengthen the institutional framework put in place by the Government. The Government has since passed the Local Content Act as well as updated the Natural Resource Fund legislation.