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Shell Oil considers the oil spills it caused in Nigeria a "tragedy." Then why does the oil giant refuse to clean up its act?
There used to be life and hope in the Niger Delta town of Bodo, a village filled with thriving fish ponds and mangrove trees. Then in 2008, two oil spills changed everything -- twice, nearby Shell Oil pipelines spewed toxic oil for weeks before they were repaired.  "It killed all the mangrove trees, the ecosystem, everything we put there. Everything just died in a day." --Bodo resident Christian Lekoya Kpandei What was Shell Oil's initial response to the devastation in Bodo, to Christian's ruined fish ponds and livelihood? Silence. Although Shell has accepted liability for these two spills, it is still silent on the issue of undertaking a comprehensive clean-up of the affected area, fully compensating the people whose lives have been devastated by the spills, and rehabilitating the affected area. Counter Shell's silence with some noise of your own. Tell Royal Dutch Shell's CEO that it's time his company own up, pay up and clean up its human rights mess in the Niger Delta. The facts are indisputable. According to a recently released UN report, Shell has failed to adequately clean up pollution in the Niger Delta for years. It's a familiar story these days -- yet another corporation trying to weasel out of a mess of its own making. Today, on the 16th anniversary of the execution of Nigerian environmental and human rights defender Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight of his fellow activists, Amnesty is launching a new report that reviews the record of the Bodo spill and adds damning new facts. Shell Oil, which recently reported profits of $7.2 billion for July-September 2011, initially offered the Bodo community just a few thousand dollars and 50 bags of rice, beans, sugar and tomatoes as relief for the disaster. Shell Oil is one of the three biggest companies in the world by revenue, a juggernaut in international business. But when it comes down to paying for a cleanup fund in Nigeria -- to pay basic compensation to residents like Christian who lost everything in the oil spill Shell is liable for -- this multinational corporation refuses to take responsibility. Of course, if Shell commits to a $1 billion cleanup fund in Nigeria, as Amnesty is asking it to do, Shell's shareholder profits may suffer a little. But we believe corporations should not put the profit of a few over the health and human rights of entire communities. Stand up for "the 99%", wherever they are. We can't be silent while the human rights to water and livelihood are being destroyed by corporations like Shell. Let's win a key victory in the fight against environmental abuses in the oil industry and for human rights. Sign our petition now calling on Shell Oil to clean up its Niger Delta mess. For justice, Tanuka Loha Director, Demand Dignity Campaign Amnesty International USA P.S. Momentum is already on our side! Just last month the US Supreme Court agreed to hear two cases that will determine whether corporations can be sued in US courts for human rights abuses committed abroad. One of them involves a group of Nigerian nationals who sued Royal Dutch Petroleum and two of its Shell Oil subsidiaries, alleging their complicity in serious human rights abuses by the Nigerian government in the early 1990s to suppress activism against the oil industry Oil contamination has devastated the lives of the people in the Niger Delta -- destroyed their livelihoods, undermined their access to clean water and food, and put their health at serious risk. Hundreds of thousands of people are affected, particularly the poorest. The failure by the oil industry to properly address pollution exacerbates human suffering and environmental damage. For example, the two major oil spills which occurred in 2008 in Bodo, Ogoniland continued for weeks before they were stopped, and three years on Shell has still not cleaned up the pollution. In August 2011, following its landmark assessment of oil contamination in Ogoniland, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) found that Shell has failed to effectively clean up oil pollution for years, and identified $1 billion as the start-up amount needed to establish an independent fund to clean up pollution in Ogoniland. Call on Shell to OWN UP to the reality of pollution in the Niger Delta, and PAY UP for the costs of a CLEAN UP operation -- the full $1 billion recommended by the UNEP report Shell: Own Up and Pay Up to Clean Up the Niger Delta Africa, Business and Human Rights | Posted by: Corporate Action Network, November 10, 2011 at 9:23 AM 1809Share Two major oil spills at Bodo, Ogoniland, have never been cleaned up © Amnesty International By Simon Billenness, Business and Human Rights Group, Co-chair and Extractive Industries Lead In the United States, the Occupy Wall Street movement has spotlighted the big banks for their role spreading toxic investments and contributing to economic deprivation.  Meanwhile in Nigeria, Amnesty’s new report, The true tragedy: delays and failures in tackling oil spills in the Niger Deltareveals how spills of toxic crude oil from the operations of big oil companies, like Shell, have harmed people’s health and devastated their livelihoods. In August and December 2008, two major oil spills disrupted the lives of the 69,000 people living in Bodo, a town in the Niger Delta.  Three years on, Shell has yet to take full responsibility for the spills, clean up the damage, and provide compensation to the people whose lives have been affected. Interviewed for the Amnesty International report, Bodo resident Regina Porobari described how she used to trade fish while her husband used to be a fisherman.  After the August 2008 spill, the fish in their creek died or were too polluted to eat.  Even the harvest from her vegetable garden has shrunk. “Many families can’t afford to buy food with enough nutrients….Everyone is struggling.” The lives of tens of thousands of people have been directly affected by the spills and the ongoing pollution.  Many are worried about their health.  Those, like Regina Porobari, who fished or farmed have had their livelihood decimated while local food prices have soared. Shell’s failure to clean up in Bodo contradicts both international human rights standards and Nigerian law.  Had Shell immediately stopped the spills and cleaned up the oil, the company could have prevented the devastation to the Bodo community.  In fact, it is Shell’s failure to comply with Nigerian regulations for a timely and proper clean-up that represents the true tragedy of its Bodo disaster. As tragic as it is, the Bodo disaster is but one of a pattern of oil spills in the Niger Delta.  In August 2011, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) published the report “Environmental Assessment of Ogoniland.”  In this first ever independent scientific study of oil pollution in the region, UNEP found that the people of the Niger Delta have been exposed to widespread and severe contamination for decades.  This pollution has affected the community’s drinking water.  One local fisherman explained: “People used to collect [the rain] for drinking water.  But today even the rain water is contaminated.  It looks black.” Amnesty International has already called on the Nigerian government to ensure clean up and compensation of communities in the Niger Delta. Amnesty is now calling on Shell to contribute the full $1 billion identified by UNEP as the start-up amount needed to establish an independent fund to clean up the pollution in Ogoniland.  We are also petitioning the oil company to carry out a comprehensive clean-up in Bodo in consultation with the community.  Finally, we are urging the company review its entire operations in the Niger Delta and ensure appropriate clean up, community consultation, and compensation payments. Please take action telling Shell to own up, pay up, and clean up their mess! "It was all green" Christian Lekoya Kpandei, ©Amnesty International Speak out for the people of Bodo in the Niger Delta.Demand that Shell Oil make things right. Environnement et société Nous nous sommes engagés à contribuer au développement durable. Respecter l'environnement Pour répondre aux besoins mondiaux croissants en énergie et protéger l'environnement, de nouvelles technologies, de nouveaux partenariats et de nouvelles méthodes d'exploitation sont nécessaires. Shell au sein de la société Comment nous soutenons le développement en fournissant une énergie moderne et en abordant sur nos sites d'exploitation les questions sociales qui revêtent le plus d'importance pour nos parties prenantes, notre réputation et notre entreprise. Des méthodes de travail sûres et sans risque La sécurité est toujours en tête de nos priorités Adopter une approche intégrée Nous nous sommes engagés à contribuer au développement durable. Pour nous, cette contribution s'exprime par un souci de répondre aux besoins énergétiques mondiaux grandissants de manière à la fois économique, environnementale et socialement responsable. The energy we supply helps to support economic growth and development. At our operations we aim to address social concerns and work to benefit local communities, protecting our reputation as we do business. Environment Through partnerships with environmental experts and by using new technologies we are finding ways to help reduce the impact of our operations on the environment. Society We are supplying energy to help support economic growth and development. At the same time we are addressing concerns of communities near to our operations, upholding our reputation and protecting our business. Safety Safety is our top priority. Our goal is to have zero fatalities and no incidents that cause harm to our people and neighbours and put our facilities at risk. Performance data Tracking our performance against a range of environmental and social indicators helps us to focus our efforts to improve into the future.