Paray says comprehensive clean-up strategy needed after oil spill in Guayaguayare

Mayaro MP Rushton Paray has raised concerns about the recent oil spill in Guayaguayare.

Paray recently convened a meeting with the Councilor for Mayaro/Guayaguayare Mr. Wendell Perez, members of the Guayaguayare Village Council, and several residents to discuss the oil spill at the Ferrier Circular Guayaguayare Operations of Heritage Petroleum Company.

During the meeting, MP Paray raised concerns about the potential medical, environmental, and economic implications that the oil spill could have on residents in the area. He reminded Heritage Petroleum about the possibility of hydrocarbon contamination of nearby groundwater and soil, and the potential of H2S Gas Emissions from the exposed condensate.

MP Paray was advised that Heritage Petroleum’s Oil Spill Response Team has been dispatched to contain and recover the spilled hydrocarbons, and several of the concerns articulated were being addressed. However, the actual clean-up operation is being hampered , as there is currently no access road to the spill, and Heritage must create a path for vehicles to pass through.

Residents in the area have expressed their concern about the strong odor of hydrogen sulfide in the air as a result of the spill. They have requested that Heritage staff work with the Village Council to effectively communicate whether the air quality is safe to breathe.

MP Paray emphasized the need for a comprehensive clean-up strategy that takes into account the environmental impacts of the spill and how best to mitigate them. He also called for regulations and protocols to prevent future spills from happening.

In closing, MP Paray asked that Heritage Petroleum provide a completed Air Quality Report, an Environmental report from the IMA on the impact to the watercourse where there was some spill-over, the repurposing of the Guaya Health Facility to a 24 Hour A&E to facilitate any health impact to the residents of the area until the situation is resolved, full standby ambulance service to Mayaro/Sangre Grande Hospital, a comprehensive communication strategy to keep the Office of the MP and the Village Council updated, a single point of contact for all claims of damages by residents, and an estimated date of the end of clean-up operations when villagers’ lives can return to normal.

MP Paray concluded by saying that oil spills are an unfortunate and unavoidable fact of life in our society, but we must have provisions in place to deal with them when they do happen.