The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has lost 18 staff members - including some senior officials - in just eight months.

A source told Stabroek News that many of the ex-staffers are dissatisfied over the lack of action by government in the implementation of the Environmental Protection Act of 1996.

When contacted, EPA's Executive Director, Doerga Persaud, told Stabroek News that this was inaccurate. He did not deny that persons have departed the EPA but he said that they have been replaced. He said that he has been getting the required support from the all the staff of the EPA.

The source said that staffers have lost confidence in the EPA board to support staff in the face of government's "highhandedness". According to the source, this includes cuts to the agency's budget without any discussions on its work programmes and non-approval for staff to attend workshops and meetings overseas. The former staff members also lament government's intervention in the EPA's work in relation to matters concerning Didco, the National Protected Areas System and the road to Lethem.

Didco was at the centre of controversy when the EPA denied it an environmental permit for a chicken farm on the Linden/Soesdyke High-way.

Persaud told Stabrek News that while the EPA's budget was funded by the Government, the EPA also receives funding from other institutions. Persaud said that an environmental management project funded by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) is going well. He disputed the report that persons were not allowed to attend workshops overseas. He said too that the EPA was moving rapidly on the development of the Protected Areas System, as it is the coordinating agency for this.

One former EPA employee told Stabroek News that some of the staffers had left to further their studies overseas, while others went to work for local agencies. This employee said that personal career objectives were not being met at the EPA.

This contact also said that the EPA requires a lot of resources and these are not being made available for various reasons. (Johann Earle)