Discussion with Melinda Janki Attorney-at-Law

While the UK media runs stories on Guyana’s oil boom the reality in country is very different.
Enrichment of ExxonMobil. Impoverishment of ordinary people. Pollution of ocean and atmosphere. Exxon’s oil operations also threaten the Caribbean. This Exxon map shows one scenario of an oil spill reaching as far as Jamaica.

Melinda Janki LL.B, BCL (Oxon), LL.M is an international lawyer, winner of the Commonwealth Law Conference Rule of Law Award 2023, and an attorney-at-law in Guyana. She leads the legal team challenging dangerous deep water petroleum operations. Successes include court orders for ExxonMobil Guyana to produce insurance, an unlimited parent company guarantee from ExxonMobil Corporation for the costs of pollution, and a US$2bn guarantee. Ms Janki’s cases on behalf of Guyanese citizens have cut ExxonMobil’s environmental permits down from 20+years to 5 years, established that ExxonMobil’s environmental permit for the gas pipeline was illegal, and imposed joint and several liability for pollution from Exxon’s petroleum operations. Her cases have also established public rights to challenge petroleum operations through liberal rules on standing, public rights to information and participation in environmental matters. She obtained a decision from the Caribbean Court of Justice that courts should not award costs against public interest litigants acting in good faith to protect the environment.