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Replies to post #23646 on MC Endeavors Inc (MSMY)
02/09/16 11:42 AM
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The conclusions of the report
While some on-the-ground results could be immediate, overall the report estimates that countering and cleaning up the pollution and catalyzing a sustainable recovery of Ogoniland could take 25 to 30 years. This work will require the deployment of modern technology to clean up contaminated land and water, improved environmental monitoring and regulation and collaborative action between the government, the Ogoni people and the oil industry.
Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and UNEP Executive Director, said the report provided the scientific basis on which a long overdue and concerted environmental restoration of Ogoniland can begin. "The oil industry has been a key sector of the Nigerian economy for over 50 years, but many Nigerians have paid a high price, as this assessment underlines," he said.
"It is UNEP's hope that the findings can break the decades of deadlock in the region and provide the foundation upon which trust can be built and action undertaken to remedy the multiple health and sustainable development issues facing people in Ogoniland. In addition it offers a blueprint for how the oil industry - and public regulatory authorities - might operate more responsibly in Africa and beyond at a time of increasing production and exploration across many parts of the Continent," said Mr Steiner.
The report suggests the creation of an Environmental Restoration Fund for Ogoniland, to be set up with an initial capital injection of US$1 billion contributed by the oil industry and the government, to cover the first five years of the clean-up project. Environment groups and Ogonis welcomed the report but said $100bn was needed to clean up the entire delta, beyond just Ogoniland.
The urgent need for action is confirmed by other recent news coming from the Ogoniland. In August, Shell accepted full responsibility for two massive oil spills that occurred in 2008 and that devastated Bodo in Ogoniland where 69,000 people live and may take at least 20 years to clean up[2]. Experts say that the two spills could together be as large as the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaska, when 10m gallons of oil destroyed the remote coastline. They believe that it could cost the company more than $100m to clean up properly and restore the devastated mangrove forests that used to line the creeks and rivers but which have been killed by the oil. Before last August, Shell had claimed that less than 40,000 gallons had been spilt. No attempt was made in 2008 to clean up the oil, which collected on the creek sides, washed in and out on the tides and seeped deep into the water table and farmland. Shell's change of mind and acceptance of full liability for the spills followed a class action suit of local communities in a British court. This could also set an important precedent for other communities in the delta to seek damages for oil pollution against Shell in the British courts.
http://www.aefjn.org/index.php/370/articles/ogoniland-oil-spills-clean-up-will-take-up-to-30-years.html
