Audreyanna Thomas v Environmental Protection Agency (Guyana)

The plaintiff challenged the Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") for granting a permit to Global Environmental Services (Guyana) Inc ("GES") without an environmental impact assessment ("EIA"). The permit, currently held by Professional Wastes Solutions Inc. ("PWS"), was first granted to GES on July 27, 2021. The permit allowed GES to operate a waste management facility for exploration and production of oil and gas waste. In granting the permit, the EPA concluded, and the Environmental Assessment Board ("EAB") approved in an appeal process, that EIA was not required for this facility. The permit allowed GES to operate the facility from August 2021 to July 2026. In July 2023, GES transferred the permit to PWS. In doing so, GES applied to the EPA to transfer its permit to PWS, not as an operation permit, but as an environmental permit ("EP"). Justice Pierre of the High Court of the Supreme Court of Judicature of Guyana, on October 28, 2025, held that the original permit was invalid and that the EPA acted with procedural impropriety in granting the original permit, based on the lack of an EIA. The Court declared that "the operation of a waste management facility for exploration and production oil and gas wastes is a project that falls under the Environmental Protection Act section 11(1) and Fourth Schedule" and that "section 11 of the Environmental Protection Act imposes a mandatory requirement to conduct an EIA for Fourth Schedule projects." The Court also quashed the transfer of the permit, from GES to PWS, in the form of an EP, as invalid.