Guyana: Satellites will spot oil spills, not on-ship experts

By BERT WILKINSON
The Associated Press

GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) — The former leader of Guyana’s Environmental Protection Agency is criticizing the government’s plan to use satellites to monitor oil spills in the South American nation’s waters. The agency announced that it will use Colorado-based MAXAR Technologies to watch its oil fields from space. But Vincent Adams tells The Associated Press that the only proper way of minimizing oil spills is to put spill-prevention experts onboard drilling ships and platforms. Adams led Guyana’s EPA for three years after a 30-year career as an environmental engineer at the U.S. Department of Energy. He says satellites can only help draw attention to an oil spill after it has begun spoiling the sea.