Nigerian oil spill still damaging livelihoods 17 years later, court hears
The Bodo community are seeking a court injunction that would compel clean-up action.
Two “massive” oil spillages in Nigeria 17 years ago are still contaminating human health and the environment, with the oil company responsible failing to clean up the pollution adequately, the High Court has heard.
People living in the Bodo area of the Niger Delta allege that an oil company previously owned by Shell is not doing enough to clean up the contamination from two ruptured pipelines that led to “massive devastation” of mangrove forest habitats, lawyers representing the Bodo community said.
They are seeking a mandatory injunction against Renaissance Africa Energy Company (RAEC), formerly known as the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria, compelling the company to remove the oil so that it no longer damages human health and the environment.
Lawyers for RAEC said the company is already working to clean the area and that a court injunction would undermine the progress already made.
Jeremy Hyam KC, for the Bodo community, said in written submissions for a hearing on Thursday that the two leaks in 2008 resulted in a combined spillage of over 500,000 barrels of oil, double the amount spilt in the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster.
“The significance of these claims cannot be overstated, and the way in which this litigation is conducted will have profound implications for thousands of individuals in Bodo, its future generations, and the entire Bodo ecosystem,” he added.
Contamination spread over 18,000 hectares, killing mangrove forests and wildlife such as crabs, birds, snails and worms and damaging an area that 30,000 people rely on for their livelihoods, Mr Hyam said.
So far, only 7% of the oil spilt in 2008 has been successfully removed, the barrister added.
He continued: ”Following the devastating oil spills in 2008, for which the defendant has admitted liability, has the defendant cleaned and remediated the contaminated community land to an appropriate standard, being that which is protective of both ecological receptors and human health?
“The claimants, and their experts, say no.”
Failing the award of an injunction, the Bodo community is seeking damages.
Lawyers for RAEC said the oil company paid out £55 million in compensation to the Bodo community a decade ago, at which time an arrangement called the Bodo Mediation Initiative (BMI) was set up.
Under the BMI, the company has paid a further 80 million dollars in clean-up costs, Dr Conway Blake, for RAEC, said in written submissions.
He described the clean-up efforts as “remarkably successful” and said a court injunction would “negate all the work that has been done pursuant to the BMI process”.
He continued: “The defendant’s position is that the BMI is far advanced in completing the clean-up and remediation of the 2008 Bodo spills in accordance with and in satisfaction of the applicable Nigerian law standards, as approved by the Nigerian regulators.
“Levels of oil contamination in the Bodo clean-up area have been drastically reduced and the regulator has recently certified that they are now below the limits required under Nigerian law.”
Sabotage and theft have hampered the clean-up and contributed to the continued pollution, the barrister added, which he described as “endemic problems in the Niger Delta”.
He continued: “Not only would a mandatory injunction for further clean-up be wasteful and cut across the approvals granted by the Nigerian regulators, but the clean-up proposed by the claimants would in fact do more harm than good to the Bodo environment.”
In opposing the claim, he said the Bodo community is “not entitled, as a matter of Nigerian law,” to seek a mandatory injunction, and they should not receive damages.
The trial, before Mrs Justice Jefford, is expected to last two weeks.
