Nigerian Court Orders Shell to Stop Gas Flaring

Shell gas flare, Niger Delta, March '04 Image: Climate Justice Program

The Federal High Court of Nigeria found that gas flaring violates citizens' constitutional rights to life and dignity and ordered Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (Shell) to stop the practice. The case was brought by Mr Jonah Gbemre, on behalf of himself and the Iwerekan community in Delta State , supported by Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria, E-Law U.S., and the Climate Justice Pro gramme. This sweeping decision against Shell could end flaring by all companies in the Niger Delta, including ExxonMobil, ChevronTexaco, TotalFinaElf, and Agip.

Gas flaring is the outdated practice of using open flames to burn off associated gases that are extracted from the earth along with crude oil. Flaring generates greenhouses gases and subjects local communities to constant heat, light, noise, and air pollution. Over the last 40 years, pollution from flares has destroyed crops and exposed Delta residents to an increased risk of premature death, respiratory illnesses, asthma, and cancer. Nigeria has been the world's biggest gas flarer and the practice has contributed more greenhouse gases than all other sources in sub-Saharan Africa combined. The wasteful practice costs Nigeria about US$2.5 billion annually, while about 66% of its population lives on less than US$1 a day.

The Reverend Nnimmo Bassey, Executive Director of Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria, commented:

“For the first time, a court of competence has boldly declared that Shell, Chevron and the other oil corporations have been engaged in illegal activities here for decades. We expect this judgment to be respected and that for once the oil corporations will accept the truth and bring their sinful flaring activities to a halt. This victory marks a new dawn in the struggle of the communities of the Niger Delta to have these flares of hell switched off. For the first time there is a hope that children here can hope to have a dark, quiet night, enjoy the chirps of birds and rest their ear drums from the awful noise of these gas flares."

More information is available from the Climate Justice Program.

Joint Enforcement Operation Cracks Down on Waste Shipments in Europe

A joint enforcement operation was carried out in seventeen European seaports this fall. During the inspections, 48% of the waste shipments were found to be illegal. Seaports in Germany, England, France, Ireland, Poland, Latvia, Slovenia, Sweden, and the Netherlands were involved in the European enforcement week. The inspections were part of the international seaport project and were conducted in October in cooperation with the local authorities.

In the seventeen seaports, a total of 3,000 documents were checked while 258 cargo-holds were ‘physically’ inspected, 140 of which were waste shipments. 68 of these turned out to be illegal. The illegal shipments included Swedish cable waste bound for China and discarded refrigerator compressors containing chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) bound for Pakistan. In Latvia, an illegal shipment of copper waste bound for Panama was discovered. In the United Kingdom, fourteen sea containers with domestic waste material on its way to India were detained. In the Netherlands , containers filled with electronic scrap metal, old batteries, heavily-polluted copper waste and CFC-containing refrigerators were intercepted. In France, a total of 30 waste shipments were blocked. The containers were found to be loaded with waste material such as cable waste containing PCB and bitumen, polluted engine blocks, rags, automobile tyres, electronic scrap metal, and telephone cables with lead casing. The shipments were destined for countries in Asia and Africa. In accordance with international agreements, the illegal waste shipments will be sent back to the country of origin.

The aim of the international seaport project is to improve and harmonize the level of enforcement of EU regulations concerning the export of (hazardous) waste in member states. During the seaport project, vehicles, ships and containers carrying (waste) materials and storage locations in port areas are inspected. Special attention is paid to the export of waste materials from the European Union to countries not belonging to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), such as a number of Asian and African countries. The inspections are carried out by the local authorities in cooperation with a large number of enforcement agencies such as customs, the police and the seaport authorities. An important goal of the project is for the environmental inspectors of the countries involved to exchange information and experiences, which has led a number of countries to improve their enforcement methods.

The first seaport project was conducted in 2003 and involved six countries. A portion of the inspected waste shipments turned out to be illegal, leading to the decision to conduct a subsequent project. In joint enforcement operations in 2004 and March of this year, a great number of shipments also proved to be illegal. At the moment, thirteen countries participate in the seaport project: Belgium, Germany, France, England, Ireland, Latvia, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, and Sweden. The final report will appear in June of 2006.

Based on the number of intercepted illegal shipments and the observed inadequacies, it appears that joint enforcement of the European regulations governing waste shipments is essential, as the European regulations for trans-frontier waste shipments applies to all member states. The regulations therefore do not differ between countries, but each country is nevertheless responsible for its own enforcement. At present, there are still large disparities in this regard. Through the European Union’s network for the Implementation and Enforcement of Environmental Law (IMPEL), European countries are cooperating to establish a more uniform method of enforcement. The seaport project is an example of this cooperation. In addition, a European enforcement strategy is being developed.

More information about the Seaport Project is available on the IMPEL Web site.

India Busts Major Tiger Poaching Ring

On November 23, 2005, Indian Police announced the arrest of four poachers working in the Ranthambhore reserve located in the state of Rajasthan. The poachers confessed to killing up to 22 tigers and a leopard. Police also recovered turtle shells and animal skin The government says poachers killed at least 114 tigers across India between 1999 and 2003, although some conservationists put the figure much higher. Just 59 died of natural causes during the same period.

Click here to read the Reuters article.

Nicaraguan Court Orders Compensation for Poisoned Farmworkers

On August 8 th , Judge Socoro Toruno Martinez of the Second Civil and Labor Court of the Chinandega District, Nicaragua, ordered Dole, Standard Fruit, Dow Chemical, Occidental Chemical, Shell Oil, Chiquita Brands, and Del Monte to pay $97 million to 150 farmworkers made chronically ill by the use of the pesticide Nemagon on banana plantations in the 1970s.

Nemagon, banned in the U.S. since 1977, contains the active ingredient dibromochloropropane (DBCP). Despite the U.S. ban, it was exported to Nicaragua and used during the 1980s. Studies on workers have shown that exposure to DBCP cause men to produce fewer sperm and to eventually become sterile. Other symptoms of exposure include headaches, nausea, lightheadedness, and weakness in workers. There is also evidence that DBCP causes cancer in animals and humans.

The August decision is another in a long line of recent decisions in Nicaraguan courts holding multinational corporations liable for pesticide-related injuries. In March 2004, a Nicaraguan court ordered Shell Chemical, Dole Food and Standard Fruit companies to pay a group of women US$82.9 million in fines in a lawsuit brought by women farmworkers.

In December 2002, a judge ordered Dow Chemical, Shell Oil, and the Dole Food, to pay $490 million to 583 banana workers adversely affected by the use of the pesticide Nemagon. However, Dow Chemical called the judgment "unenforceable" because the case was supposed to be moved to a U.S. court, and because the ruling was "based on a law passed in Nicaragua that its own attorney general has called unconstitutional." The companies refuse to pay.

In September, the Nicaraguan National Assembly approved a law that will provide farmworkers poisoned by the pesticide Nemagon with legal advice for lawsuits they have filed against transnational companies that used this substance, including Dole Fruit, Dow Chemical, Occidental, Shell Chemical and Standard Fruit, according to the Latin America Press. Lawmakers agreed to consider another law that could possibly provide victims of Nemagon use with lifelong compensation.

Organizations representing those affected by Nemagon had been camping out in the capital, Managua , since March, denouncing the chemical's deadly effects that have already killed 966 people and damaged the health of at least 20,000 farmworkers. “These companies have committed an act of genocide against thousands of employees” said Jacinto Obregón, an attorney for the farmworkers.

Defendants Consent to $8.25 Million Clean Up in US Hazardous Waste Case

Eleven defendants have agreed to pay the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over $8.25 million for the Puente Valley Operable Unit (Area 4) of the San Gabriel Valley Superfund site in Los Angeles, California. The consent decree, lodged on September 8, 2005, with the District Court for the Central District of California, resolves the liability of the settling defendants for the Interim Record of Decision (Interim ROD); the defendants allegedly contributed to ground water contamination at the site. EPA can use funds received through the settlement to address the site cleanup, and the reimbursement of some past costs will help EPA to fund future cleanups. The site remedy calls for pumping and treating the ground water and preventing further migration of the contamination; once complete, the ground water treatment system will treat nearly 3.5 million gallons of water a day.

EPA is working with other potentially responsible parties (PRPs) to negotiate agreements to clean up the Puente Valley ground water. On August 17, 2005, a consent decree with two other potentially responsible parties, Carrier Corporation and United Technologies, Inc., was lodged with the U.S. District Court in Los Angeles . Carrier and United Technologies have agreed to spend approximately $26.5 million to build a system to pump and treat shallow ground water. They have also agreed to complete an innovative supplemental environmental project, namely using plants to help address low-level contamination on a former duck farm that lies over the ground water plume.

The Puente Valley Operable Unit is a ground water plume underlying the City of Industry and parts of the cities of La Puente and Walnut. The ground water is contaminated with volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from degreasing, metal cleaning and other activities. All four areas of the San Gabriel Valley Superfund site were added to the National Priorities List in 1984. Ground water from the entire basin serves as the main domestic water supply to over one million people.

For additional information contact Dustin Minor minor.dustin@epa.gov.

Ruling Compels Philippine Government to Clean Up Manila Bay

Fifteen government agencies are now compelled to save the country’s most important coastline following a landmark decision by the Court of Appeals (CA) in favor of Manila Bay area residents, who filed a class suit against the national government in 1999. The appellate court, in a resolution dated Sept. 28, 2005, cracked the whip on the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage Systems, the Local Water Utilities Administration, the Philippine Ports Authority and 12 other national government offices for being remiss in their obligation to clean up, rehabilitate, and protect Manila Bay, which has been downgraded into a virtual body of water filled with fecal coliform.

Click here to read the full story in the the Philippine Star.

Environment Canada Lays Charges Against Dynamic Toy Importers Ltd.

On October 25, Environment Canada brought charges under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 (CEPA, 1999) against Dynamic Toy Importers Limited of Coquitlam, B.C. for allegedly importing, offering for sale and selling ozone depleting substances from 2003 through 2004.

The company has been charged with eight counts under subsection 272(1) of CEPA, 1999. The charges stem from the alleged importation of five shipments of novelty items containing a hydrochlorofluorocarbon (HCFC). The HCFC product was allegedly imported from October through December 2003 from China through the Port of Vancouver . The HCFC product was then allegedly sold in retail stores in Coquitlam, B.C. in January and February 2004. HCFCs are synthetic substances linked to the depletion of the ozone layer. These substances have been banned and/or restricted in Canada since 1999.

The company is also being charged for allegedly failing to comply with an Environmental Protection Compliance Order, and allegedly failing to comply with a Ministerial Recall Direction issued under authority of CEPA, 1999.

These charges follow an investigation by Enforcement Officers of Environment Canada’s Environmental Protection Branch in Vancouver , B.C. Environment Canada investigates alleged offences under CEPA, 1999 and the Fisheries Act with the objective of ensuring that companies, governments, and the general public comply with legislation and regulations that protect the Canadian environment. Enforcement of the Ozone-depleting Substances Regulations, 1998 is part of Canada ’s contribution and treaty obligations under the Montreal Protocol, which aims to remove ozone-depleting substances from the atmosphere.

A date for first appearance in Provincial Court has been set for November 23, 2005 in Vancouver , B.C. The maximum penalty provided for under CEPA, 1999 is a $1,000,000 fine or three years imprisonment on conviction by way of indictment, or both, or a $300,000 fine or six months imprisonment on summary conviction, or both.

Environment Canada's press room provides more information on the story.

Brazil Cracks Down on Logging Permit Forgeries

In October, Brazilian police arrested a gang that was forging thousands of logging permits in the Amazon, in the latest government effort to slow destruction of the world's largest rain forest. Over 400 federal police agents staged dawn raids across four Amazon states and arrested 35 people who produced and sold illegal permits to transport millions of dollars worth of hardwood timber. Brazil's government says its crackdown on illegal logging and tighter law enforcement have this year slowed deforestation of Brazil's Amazon by half after it reached its second-highest level ever the year before.

Additional information is available from http://illegal-logging.info.

GE Agrees to Begin Dredging Hudson River

Through a consent decree lodged with the District Court in Albany, New York on October 6, 2005 , General Electric has agreed to perform the first phase of dredging PCB-contaminated sediments from the Hudson River and to build a facility to transfer and process the sediments. GE's Hudson Falls Plant GE's Hudson Falls Plant was one of two manufacturing plants that contributed to PCB contamination of the Hudson.

The estimated cost to construct the facility and conduct Phase 1 dredging is $100-150 million. GE has also agreed to compensate EPA for up to $78 million in past and future cleanup costs at the Hudson River PCBs Superfund Site.

After the Phase I dredging is completed, an independent peer review panel will review the engineering performance standards and determine if modifications are necessary before Phase 2. Once EPA informs GE of any necessary modifications, GE may elect to conduct Phase 2 dredging under the terms of the current consent decree. Should GE decide not to conduct Phase 2 dredging, EPA can use its enforcement authority to compel GE to conduct the dredging or sue in district court for cleanup costs if the Agency completes the Phase 2 dredging.

Over nearly thirty years, GE discharged an estimated 1.3 million pounds of PCBs from two capacitor manufacturing plants into the Hudson River . In 1976, a year before the discharges ceased, the State of New York began taking actions to restrict consumption of PCB-contaminated fish from the Hudson River . In 1984, the site was added to the National Priorities List. In the 2002 Record of Decision, in which EPA selected the cleanup, the Agency determined that 2.65 million cubic yards of contaminated sediments would need to be dredged to be protective of human health and the environment. GE has agreed to dredge sediments, build a sediment processing facility, and reimburse EPA up to $78 million.

GE conducted sampling to delineate areas for dredging, and agreed to design the remedy under the terms of two previous agreements. To date, GE has paid EPA $37 million for the Hudson River site.

For additional information, contact Dave Kluesner, EPA Region 2, (212) 637-3653.