Pollution Worsens Around Shell Oil Spills in Nigeria
LONDON—The environmental damage around the site of two Royal Dutch Shell PLC oil spills in Nigeria a decade ago has worsened significantly after years of delay to cleanup efforts, according to a report that the oil giant has been accused of trying to shield from public view.
The spills from a ruptured Shell pipeline spewed thousands of barrels of oil over parts of the Bodo fishing community in the crude-rich Niger Delta. Although the company in 2015 reached an out-of-court settlement with the local community, admitting to liability and agreeing to pay £55 million, or around $80 million at the time, in compensation, controversy around the case has remained.
A United Nations body, in a 2011 report, found extensive environmental damage around Bodo. Four years later, an assessment to prepare the cleanup found soil contamination had worsened while cleanup efforts languished and illegal refining and oil theft added to pollution in the area, according to an academic paper published last month. That has left the community facing potentially toxic pollution and “catastrophic” damage to the environment, the paper said.
The 2015 analysis was commissioned by the Bodo Mediation Initiative, a consortium established to oversee the cleanup in the area. Shell is a member of the group along with local stakeholders.
At least one of the authors urged the findings to be widely distributed because they pointed to significant health risks to the local community. Kay Holtzmann, the cleanup project’s former director, said in a letter reviewed by the Journal that Shell had denied him permission to publish the study’s results in a scientific journal. At the time, Shell said the study didn’t reveal anything new. It wasn’t made public.
But the academic paper said the site survey contained new facts. The average surface soil contamination in Bodo had tripled since the original U.N. probe, the paper said. Out of 32 samples taken from the top two inches of soil in the area around Bodo, only one was within Nigeria’s legally acceptable limit for oil contamination, the paper added.
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The cleanup effort in Bodo began last year. The first phase is expected to be completed next month. There is no fixed deadline for the job to be completed.
Remediation efforts were slow to start and stalled repeatedly over court action, local power struggles and protests that prevented cleanup crews from gaining site access. Repeated disputes over how money for the work would be distributed also slowed progress.
The increased pollution caused by illegal refining, sabotage and theft, Shell said, added urgency to the local community continuing to allow the company site access to complete the cleanup.
Write to Sarah Kent at sarah.kent@wsj.com
https://www.wsj.com/articles/pollution-worsens-around-shell-oil-spills-in-nigeria-1527246084 (paid subscription)
