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Ogoni Day remembered as Shell fail to honour promise to halt gas flaring
 international |
environment |
news report
 Friday January 04, 2008 01:23 by Shell to Sea
Company will continue to degrade environment
Today is January 4th 2008.
On this day in 1993, 300,000 people in Nigeria marked the United Nations Year of Indigenous Peoples by protesting against Shell's activities and the environmental destruction of Ogoniland in the Niger Delta.
2008 was supposed to be the deadline for the ending of gas flaring by Shell in Nigeria, but the company now says that this deadline will not be met.
 Gas Flaring is simply the releasing of excess gas and liquids associated with oil and gas production pipelines and refineries into the atmosphere. The main purpose of gas flaring is to protect pipelines and infrastructure from over-pressuring
The released gases are burned off, releasing any by-products into the air. These include nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide, and volatile organic compounds like xylene and hydrogen sulfide. Carcinogens such as benzapyrene are also released. People exposed to these substances can suffer from a variety of respiratory problems, which have been reported amongst many children in the Niger Delta but have but have never been systemically investigated. These chemicals can also aggravate asthma, cause breathing difficulties and pain, as well as chronic bronchitis.
Benzene, which is known to be emitted from gas flares in undocumented quantities, is acknowledged as being a causative agent for leukemia.
Gas flaring of course, also contributes to global warming and climate change.
Together with oil spills, gas flaring is seen as a major cause of environmental degradation. In Nigeria, the practice is supposed to be illegal, but there is no sign of the Nigerian government being able to enforce this law. Here in Ireland we know all about how Shell can manipulate the world of politics and the legal process to suit the needs of the company's shareholders.
In Nigeria in 1995 however, it appears that Shell's PR people slowly realised that their part in the hanging of Ken Saro Wiwa and eight other activists was a public relations disaster, and in the aftermath the company made various concessions to its critics, in a vain attempt to undue some of the damage it felt had been done to its brand. One of the promises made was the announcement of an end to gas flaring.
Shell of course, is not well known for living up to its promises, and so flaring is still going on today. In the year 2000, Shell formally announced that it would stop gas flaring by 2008. Interestingly, since 2000, gas flaring in the Niger Delta has actually increased (according to the 2005 Shell Sustainability Report).
In November 2005, the Federal High Court of Nigeria stated that Shell and other oil companies
should end gas flaring in the Niger Delta. In a case brought against Shell, the court ruled that the damaging and wasteful practice of flaring could not lawfully continue and must stop. Shell appealed against the decision.
At the demonstration on January 4th 1993, an Ogoni elder said:
"We have woken up to find our lands devastated by agents of death called oil companies. Our atmosphere has been totally polluted, our lands degraded, our waters contaminated, our trees poisoned, so much so that our flora and fauna have virtually disappeared".
January 4th became known as Ogoni Day.
Photographs courtesy of Friends of the Earth (used by permission)
http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/
For more information see:
www.remembersarowiwa.com
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Comments (26 of 26)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26You can clearly see what $hell does in other countries, what the hell is the matter with the Irish Government?, are they so blind by greed?, that they will allow $hell to destroy the north west coast of Ireland, where it is one of the last remaining places of true beauty. Blessed water ways and drinking wells that have been around since the beginning of time. Will the Irish Government go down in history as the Government who let this happen? Well; we the people of Ireland, will not let you, you have no right or law to destroy the ENVIORMENT that we live and raise our children in, never mind the water, the air, the animals and all the plant life. What will it finally take to convince the Irish Government that the majority of the people are opposed to this toxic destroyer. What will it take?, more arrests, deaths, even a civil war ???. $hell will never win, ever ! The wrong place at the wrong time in Irish History. The water that the irish people use is becoming more & more of a danger of permanent pollution, The Irish Government does not have the right to destroy our water ways for a foriegn company that destroys the enviorment all over the planet. Please show as much support as you can in the coming months, I know its hard to be in two places at once, but please try THANK YOU.
Thanks to Shell to Sea for a thorough & timely report; this should be sufficient warning about SHell's conduct abroad.
I'll continue to oppose the destruction of Erris beside the Erris people & abroad for as long as I'm able. The pollution of the water supply is a disgrace; do the parents of children whose water comes from Carrowmore know what's happening?
http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=u4uZDvA5WY4
Some Shell to activists marked Ogoni Day in Dublin as the staff were arriving at Shell HQ this morning.
Letting the company have a taste of its own medicine
At just before 8.30 this morning, as staff were arriving for work at Royal Dutch Shell's Irish headquarters in Dublin, they were treated to a taste of what life is like for those who have to live and work near Shell installations in other parts of the world.
Shell made a commitment that the company would end the process of gas flaring in 2008. Since January 4th is Ogoni Day, it seemed a good time to raise the fact that that gas flaring is still going on in Nigeria.
Short version of video (45 seconds) here: http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=u4uZDvA5WY4
Long version (2 minute) here: http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=597hkm9MuTo
More information on Shell in Nigeria here: http://www.foeeurope.org/press/2007/May3_DU_Flaring.htm
I can't see what this ridiculous little stunt was designed to achieve! Set fire to some petrol and bolt across the road like a bunch of kids playing a prank. Oh, and by the way, burning petrol in such a fashion is far more damaging to the environment than if it came out of a car exhaust. Idiots.
2 pics from the video
Totally agree with Shelly. Another anarchic piece of wanton stupidity. Setting light to petrol outside Shell's HQ is simply down right dangerous as the footpath is a public thoroughfare and does not belong to Shell. Innocent people coild get hurt. Do you honestly think that this will cause Shell to act and reverse what it is doing? I think not. As Shelly said this is a juvenile prank that would carried out by kids around Helloween. If this is a S2S publicity stunt then S2S need to take a good look at themselves and the way their camaign is going - this could lead to an escalation in similar pieces of stupidity. Someone could get seriously injured.
Someone could get seriously injured.
Like say in a gas pipeline explosion!
kp
People get injured every day because of Shell's gas flaring in Nigeria. If all this does is raise awareness of this issue, and the fact that Shell have reneged on their commitment to end the practice, then it'll have achieved a huge amount more than the Shell apologists who try to discourage people from action.
Video and article from British indymedia is well worth a look: http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/01/388781.html?c=on...87109
Being a Shell security guard must be quite an interesting job- you never know what's going to happen next...
Never mind this bullshit of "its wanton anarchic destruction",thats ridiculously narrow-minded.
What Shell are doing in our country and so many others is wanton destruction and we as responsible people should be prepared to stand up tp their crimes,using whatever means necessary.,including property destruction (not that this action was of this type)
The political and corporate elite should not maintian a monopoly on using force and intimidation whilst those resisting their scurrolous attempts to rob and pillage are restrained within the parameters of "acceptable" protest.
Well done to all involved.
Unlike SHell, Shell to Sea have regard for life & safety!
Environmental Rights Action, ERA
Press Release:16 November 2007
NO SHIFTING OF ZERO FLARES DATE, ERA INSISTS
Any further extension of the deadline on gas flaring will further aggravate the already precarious environmental, health and economic problems being experienced in the Niger Delta, the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth, Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) said yesterday.
The environmental justice group's position is coming on the heels of demands by oil corporations operating in the Niger Delta for an extension of the deadline to 2010, citing insecurity and poor funding of gas gathering infrastructure, among others, as reasons for the delay in downing the flares.
The companies had breached several deadlines on zero flares before now and only agreed on the January 1, 2008 date after much pressure from NGOs and the international community.
ERA/FOEN in a statement issued yesterday in Lagos, demanded that any oil firm that breaches the deadline should have offending production facilities shut down on the 1 January deadline. Charging higher fines for defaulters is akin to making merchandise of the lives of the people.
"Time has come for the lives of Niger Deltans to be weightier than petrodollars. Gas flaring is a monumental waste of our natural resources, an assault on the lives and health of the people of Niger Delta and a mark of unacceptable double standards by the oil companies," said ERA Director, Nnimmo Bassey
"Asking for shift of deadlines is the usual game of these companies. They have shown by their inactions over the years that they will never willingly honour any deadline. Oil companies continued dillydallying on the date matter makes nonsense of our judicial system because there is a subsisting judgment on the matter," he added.
A Federal High court sitting in Benin and presided by Justice V. C Nwokorie, had on November 14th 2005 ordered Shell to stop gas flaring in Iwherekan Community, Delta State by April 2007, saying it violates the fundamental right to life and dignity.
Nigeria flares about 2.5 million cubic feet of associated gas everyday. This amounts to an an estimated revenue loss of $2.5 billion annually. The flares have contributed significantly to greenhouse gases.
In the suit brought by the Iweherekan community of Delta State, Justice Nwokorie ruled that gas flaring is a gross violation of their (plaintiff) fundamental right to life (including healthy environment and dignity of human person.
Philip Jakpor
Project Officer
ERA/FoEN
08037256939
ERA/FoE N, Postal: P.O.Box 10577, Ugbowo, Benin City, Nigeria Tel: +234 52 467029 Mobile: +234 803 727 4395 eFAX: +1 509 752 0664.
This surely has to be the lowest point of Shell To Seas campaign so far.
Rather pathetic to see them stooping to "protests" which consist of starting fires and running off. Events like this make it all the more difficult to accept Shell To Seas claims that protests in Erris are democratic and peaceful.
Would you have preferred if they lit the fire and stayed there?
Do you think the actions of Shell and the State have been democratci and peaceful?
Reality check my friend,thats not how things work in this world.
Sometimes you have to fight fire with fire.
Shell and the state have brutalised all peaceful resistance to this project.
Oddly enough yesterday I was talking to an ogoni man who was saying that there was never any need for christmas tree lights in Ogoniland because it is lit up twenty four seven from the poison gas flares...
This is a great action- its symbolic -no one was hurt and its a refusal to stay within the confines of what our government likes to allow as 'legitimate protest '.
Non violent resistance has to get more and more creative- the government has the capacity to outlast dissent just because all those who can be mobilised sooner rather than later have to go back to their lives -this is the governments chief weapon against protest- Non violent repression! Anything that puts them on the back foot or surpirses them is all the better. The only problem with this action and some of the other good ones is that they are isolated- if we all got behind such things we could keep both profile and pressure up
what works well is ( non nylon ) rope soacked overnight in flamable material which can be laid out on the ground ,the thicker the rope the longer it burns .
These photographs were taken late at night with no artificial light source except the gas flare. There is no need for workers in the bar near the flares pictured to switch on the lights for tables on the porch, since the flares, burning day and night with columns of gas more than 200 feet high, provide more than enough illumination.
The fact that Shell know that these gas flares cause leukemia and other diseases, and yet are committed to keeping them burning to increase profits, says everything that needs to be said about this company.
Does any one know what happened about the families of Ken Saro-Wiwa and John Kpuinen, WHO brought a law suit against $hell in New York Federal court. The suit alleges that their executions were carried out with the full knowledge, consent, and suport of $hell. Shell is also charged with being part of a conspiracy " to violenty and ruthlessly suppress any oppositionto ( the company's) conduct in its exploitation of oil and GAS resources in Ogoni and in the Niger Delta." Among other chargers, the suit also alleges that shell took land with out paying compensation, polluted the atmospere, water, soil, paid for police suppression, and fabricated evidence. (LYING) . Almost sounds like Ireland except for the killings. SO does any know what happened to this case against Shell back in 1996. Its dreadful that shell are at it again in Bellinaboy, Ireland. See U in court !
The case is being heard in the U.S. and as far as I know, the judgement is "pending". It may be years before the case reaches a conclusion.
Shell have tied the case up on the point of whether it should be heard in America at all, under two principles; 1. Exhaustion of Remedies.--A court should decline to hear a claim if the claimant has not exhausted adequate and available remedies in the place in which the conduct giving rise to the claim occurred.-that is, Nigeria is where all this happened, has the case been taken there?
and
2. What is called "forum non conveniens"- that is, whether the court is the best place for the two sides to receive a hearing. The second point is sticky, given that U.S. courts are notoriously slow to weigh in in international matters, but as far as I know, the court has decided that America is at least as good a place as any other to hear this case, and there is an American interest served by having human rights law upheld around the world. Both these points have been exhaustively argued over, but, as far as I understand, the current situation is that both points have been decided in favour of the case being decided in the US Federal Court.
There's a new - Jan 3rd - 'Greenwash Guerrilla' action @ Shell House London on youtube.
Best Practice. International Best Practice. Safety at Work. Certainty. Nothing can ever go wrong.
Have a look at this 2 minute video and then say whether you would be happy to have a Shell pipeline near your home.
What does this clip have to do with gas pipelines? Is this not just a shot of some eejit refueling a tanker, very badly it has to be said? Honestly, get a grip. At least show us something relevant. Is this guy in charge of the fuel pump going to be in charge of the gas operation? I think not. Please, do not insult the intelligence of the vast majority just to give a boost to the minority, which S2S certainly are. Stick to the facts which you are so fond of, whether real or not. Sideshows are just confirming the fact that you are clutching at straws, trying to justify the ongoing campaign of mindless vandalism and disruption. Face the real facts: the terminal is being built under your noses, and the gas will come in, whether you like it or not, so why not get some benefit from it. Get as much cash from Shell as you can, because there are plenty of others out there doing just that.
I have noticed a marked reduction in activity in this forum, and I have also noticed that formerly vociferous people are strangely silent these days. Why so? Have they finally realised that they are flogging a dead horse?
At the end of the day, this gas is good news. While we are not on the Bord Gais network now, we will be some day. Rome wasn't built in a day. There will be jobs, even if they are less than expected, and short term. Half a loaf is better than no bread. Whether we like it or not, the west coast is a second class citizen, therefore we have to accept the crumbs. Ireland is not unique in this, rural areas will always suffer. That is the way of the world. The trick is to make as much of the opportunities offered as possible. This is a lesson Erris has yet to learn.
Thats the most pathetic attempt to date I've seen on here by someone trying to justify Shells activities in Mayo. Surely their PR dept can do better than that!!
"While we are not on the Bord Gais network now, we will be some day. "
"There will be jobs, even if they are less than expected, and short term. Half a loaf is better than no bread."
"Whether we like it or not, the west coast is a second class citizen, therefore we have to accept the crumbs."
It reads like someone who is very depressed, and trying to convince themselves that having a company renowned for breaches of safety rules pushing a high-pressure gas pipeline through the landscape is a GOOD IDEA REALLY,
or maybe it's someone who has been told to attack Shell to Sea but is making a bad job of it on purpose.
Either way, cheer up. The refinery has the consent of the government but not the people, so it's never going to be operational.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_corr...0.stm
The curse of Nigerian oil
Attacks on oil industry facilities and kidnappings for ransom are frequent in the creeks of the Niger Delta, which is home to Africa's biggest oil and gas industry.
The BBC's Sue Lloyd-Roberts argues that Nigeria's "black gold" has brought wealth to a few but fuels greed and corruption on a grand scale.
.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_corr...t.stm
From Our Own Correspondent was broadcast on Saturday, 3 January, 2009 at 1130 GMT on BBC Radio 4. Please check the programme schedules for World Service transmission times.