KAMPALA (Reuters) - Uganda's state-run environment authority has accused UK petroleum explorer, Tullow Oil, of taking inadequate steps to safeguard the environment around their drilling sites, according to a letter seen by Reuters on Saturday.
Environmentalists are concerned at the impact Uganda's fast growing oil sector will have on wildlife in the game parks that abut the border with eastern DRC and sit atop of reserves estimated at about 2 billion barrels.
Aryamanya Mugisha, who heads the National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA) said Tullow's staff in charge of environmental safety were poorly trained and lacked experience.
"It seems to me that they are not qualified and experienced to handle the environmental challenges at hand," Mugisha wrote in the confidential letter dated March 22 to the oil explorer.
He highlighted shortcomings in the company's waste disposal policies and contingency plans to deal with oil spills.
Tullow denied the accusations and said its environmental staff were experts. "They ensure that robust solutions to waste management are delivered responsibly," Brian Glover, Tullow's country manager in Uganda, told Reuters.
Commercial production of oil is expected to commence later this year in east Africa's third largest economy.
(Reporting by Elias Biryabarema; editing by Richard Lough and Toby Chopra)
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