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Amnesty International and the Centre for Environment, Human Rights and Development (CEHRD) dropped a bombshell today.
The two NGOs unveiled documents pertaining to the Royal Dutch Shell Oil 2008 Bodo oil pipeline spill that showed that 60 times the amount of oil Shell had originally reported spilling have actually spilled in the ravaged Niger Delta coastal town with a population of 60,000 people.
In a press release, Amnesty explained its findings:
The previously unpublished assessment, carried out by US firm Accufacts, found that between 1,440 and 4,320 barrels of oil were flooding the Bodo area each day following the leak. The Nigerian regulators have confirmed that the spill lasted for 72 days.
Shell’s official investigation report claims only 1,640 barrels of oil were spilt in total. But based on the independent assessment the total amount of oil spilt over the 72 day period is between 103,000 barrels and 311,000 barrels.
Adding insult to injury, Shell has yet to do a damn thing about it. “More than three years after the Bodo oil spill, Shell has yet to conduct a proper clean up or to pay any official compensation to the affected communities,” wrote Amnesty.
This report comes on the heels of two-year anniversary of the BP Gulf Coast Oil Spill and in the wake of pipeline infrastructure springing up like wildfire all around North America for the unconventional oil and gas industry. It also comes two months after the Obama Administration Interior Department’s approval of Shell’s plan to begin drilling for oil off of the North Slope of Alaska in the Arctic starting in July.
Patrick Naagbanton, Coordinator of CEHRD summed up the situation, stating:
The evidence of Shell’s bad practice in the Niger Delta is mounting. Shell seems more interested in conducting a PR operation than a clean-up operation. The problem is not going away; and sadly neither is the misery for the people of Bodo.
A tragic situation for Bodo’s citizens, to put it mildly.
Image credit: vanHurck | ShutterStock
8 Comments
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Thank you so much for this, Steve Horn. It is indeed a “true tragedy”. I’m going to link to Amnesty International’s excellent report of a year or so ago which has photos that dramatically illustrate the scope and impact of this tragedy on the people of Bodo. Those photos really bring it home. (If you had the link tucked into your text, then please accept my apologies, for I didn’t see it.)
Awful, but if they didn’t do the clean up they didn’t use corexit. The Niger Delta is also where the oil company hired contractors to guard the leaking pipeline, and they killed protestors.
Thanks for pointing this out.
Another bombshell is the “methane volcanoes” erupting in the Arctic. This was something that scientific models said would not happen.
Former activist, Ken Saro-Wiwa, was executed for trying to protect the Niger delta from these vultures at Shell.
Thanks for providing this information. We surely won’t see it almost anywhere else. But hey! What’s a “little” spilled oil in a delicate eco-system like the Niger Delta amongst friends? As long as the 1% gets ever richer from ripping off the world’s resources, screw the eco-system & any protesters had better STFU or they can just eat shit & die.
It’s not just Shell.
Transparency International, in measuring public corruption, ranked Nigeria 143 out of 180 or so countries, the bigger the number, the worst the corruption.
from their site:
“Corruption is the abuse of entrusted power for private gain. This is the working definition used by Transparency International (TI), applying to both the public and private sectors. The CPI focuses on corruption in the public sector, or corruption which involves public officials, civil servants or politicians. “
Per everyone else, thanks.
Recommended and re-posted at Progressive Alaska. This story has not made AK yet. Shell is gearing up right now for their Chukchi and Beaufort Sea exploration this summer.
This is exactly the outcome that I would expect when we force oil production overseas where there are much less stringent environmental protections than there are here. Until we as a society are ready to stop using fossil fuel products we will continue to pollute countries that are less able to insist on strong oversight.