EPA Defends Capacity Building Efforts Amid Criticism Regarding Development and Regulation

In a letter published in Kaieteur News on November 5, 2026, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) addressed recent attempts to create controversy surrounding its investments in training and human resource development. The EPA noted that it found the portrayal of this investment as scandalous to be laughable, particularly when detractors have previously claimed the agency lacked the capacity to regulate the oil and gas sector, often citing outdated assessments from 2018.

The EPA questioned the desire of critics for an agency that remains stagnant, under-resourced, or unable to competently assess complex developments, suggesting that demanding stronger regulatory capacity while simultaneously condemning the investments needed to build it is contradictory.

According to the EPA, in 2025, 144 EPA employees participated in 77 distinct training programs, which accounted for 418 training participations. These programs covered areas such as environmental legislation, compliance inspections, environmental risk assessment, oil spill response, emergency planning, incident command, radiological environmental impact assessment, and public procurement. The agency stated that the reported expenditure of approximately $13.8 million should be viewed within the context of these competencies, which are directly related to the Agency’s responsibility to assess environmental impacts, manage risks, enforce compliance, and respond to environmental emergencies.

The EPA asserted that its mandate is not to prevent development indiscriminately, but rather to ensure that development is properly assessed, that significant environmental impacts and risks are identified and appropriately managed, and that projects proceed with the necessary environmental safeguards. The agency clarified that environmental regulation involves making sound, science-based decisions that protect the environment while enabling responsible development.

The EPA emphasized that its investment in capacity is intended to ensure development is properly assessed, responsibly managed, and subject to effective environmental safeguards, rather than to prevent development. The agency stated that environmental regulators must continuously learn, adapt, and innovate to remain effective given the current era of advanced technologies and complex industrial development.

Furthermore, the EPA stated that it does not claim perfection and recognizes that strengthening regulatory capacity is an ongoing process. The agency welcomed criticism when it is based on facts, evidence, and a genuine understanding of environmental governance, but found repeated questioning of its capacity while attacking its efforts to strengthen it to be contradictory.