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Vanguard (Nigeria): Militants bomb Agip, Shell’s facilities

  
Written by Emma Amaize    
Monday, 07 January 2008 
 
MILITANTS, Sunday night, in Delta State, blew up the Beniboye flow station pipeline, owned by the Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC) and a water disposal pipeline, belonging to the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) in Burutu Local Government Area of the state for allegedly polluting the oil communities in the area and failing to do clean ups as demanded.

There was no report of any casualty, although details of the two incidents were sketchy at press time. Vanguard learnt that some community leaders had pleaded with the militants against blowing up the oil installations but were rebuffed.

Some of the communities in the area had accused the NAOC of polluting their environment and gave the company an ultimatum to clean up the affected areas. The companies appeared not to have taken any action. Telephone calls to them last night were unsuccessful.

A report was also made to the Ministry of Environment, Asaba on the pollution at Odimodi and other communities by the SPDC’s water disposal line through which drilling sludge was allegedly deposited into the Bight of Benin, less than three kilometres from the shore of Isiayebene.

The SPDC has always  denied polluting the communities from the crude oil platform but the Ministry of Environment, Asaba in a letter to the General Manager of the company in October 2002, confirmed that six of the 13 valve heads along the waste water disposal line from the Forcados Terminal to the road leading to the Odimodi town were “leaking profusely.”

In the letter, signed for the Commissioner by I. O. Ufiofio, the Ministry said: “A careful observation indicated that the waste water initially formed a pool, gather momentum and run-off into the adjoining swamp and vegetation.

The pool of waste water so formed created a nauseating appearance of the immediate surrounding, thus destroying the aesthetic value of the immediate vicinity.

“The vegetation around the pools (waste water) was either dried up, dead or was at various stages of wilting. The destruction of the vegetation progresses along the run-off to where it flows into the swamp.

The damage done to the swamp was more severe as seen aerially, suggesting that the waste water is toxic and that the aquatic environment facilitated its widespread,” it said.

http://www.vanguardngr.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4161&Itemid=0

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