AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

Nigeria: Shell must clean up devastating oil spills in the Niger Delta

February 2, 2023

Reacting to the news that two Nigerian communities, which have been devastated by oil spills, have filed claims against Shell at the High Court in London, Amnesty International’s Head of Business and Human Rights Mark Dummett, said:

“More than 13,500 residents from the Ogale and Bille communities in the Niger Delta have now filed claims against Shell asking that the company clean up oil spills which they say have wrecked their livelihoods, poisoned their wells, and polluted their land and water, which means they can no longer farm or fish.”

“Amnesty stands by these two communities in the Niger Delta, which have been engaged in litigation against Shell for seven years, asking that the company clean up the damage caused and compensate them for their lost livelihoods.

“Shell announced in 2021 that it plans to sell its onshore oilfields and assets in the Niger Delta after 60 years of highly profitable operations in the area. It is concerning that Shell has not explained how it plans to address the widespread and systemic pollution of Nigerian communities linked to its operations over many years before it sells up and leaves. read more

Climate activists across world raise funds for the court case against Shell

Friends of the Earth Netherlands: 20/01/2023 | 16:25 PM

In 2021, thousands of Dutch citizens took one of the largest carbon emitters in the world to court and won. Together with Friends of the Earth Netherlands (Milieudefensie) they won a historic court case against Royal Dutch Shell, the parent company of Shell Group, forcing the company to take climate action.

The judge ruled that Shell’s current climate policy would contribute to a level of climate change that would be so dangerous that it would impose a threat to human rights. read more

Large-scale polluter Shell loses legal battle

The Guardian: Isabella Kaminski: Thu 29 Dec 2022 12.00 GMT

Between 2004 and 2007, the villages of Oruma, Goi and Ikot Ada Udo in Nigeria were polluted with oil from infrastructure built by Royal Dutch Shell. More than 15 years later, in late December, the company finally agreed to pay four farmers and their communities €15m in compensation and install a leak detection system after a court in the Netherlands ruled that Shell’s Nigerian subsidiary was liable and the parent company had a duty of care. read more

BBC News

Shell to pay $16m to Nigerian farmers over oil damage

23 Dec 2022

Shell has agreed to pay $16m (£13m) to four Nigerian farmers and their communities to compensate for damage allegedly caused by pollution coming from leaks in its oil pipelines.

The sum was agreed in negotiations between the oil company and campaign group Friends of the Earth.

But it is being given on the basis of “no admission of liability”, a joint statement says.

Nigeria’s oil industry has been a major source of environmental damage. read more

MailOnline

Extinction Rebellion mob cause traffic NIGHTMARE in London

• Earlier today the eco fanatics climbed onto a Shell oil tanker at a petrol station in Bayswater, London

• Along with eco-mob Just Stop Oil, XR have brought 16 days of disruption to traffic, oil depots and commuters

• Comes after activists blocked four of London’s busiest bridges on Good Friday – causing traffic chaos

• Several oil firms secured injunctions to stop environmental protesters from targeting fuel processing sites 

By WILLIAM COLE FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 10:51, 16 April 2022 | UPDATED: 20:17, 16 April 2022

A mob of Extinction Rebellion protesters have swamped London’s Marble Arch, glueing themselves to a limousine and bringing traffic to a standstill.

The eco-fanatic rabble have once again brought chaos to the streets of the capital as they launched a series of ‘disruptions’ on a sixteenth days of protests alongside Just Stop Oil activists.

XR members convened in Hyde Park earlier today before one group – which included two former Olympians – climbed onto a Shell oil tanker at nearby Bayswater, leading to six arrests. read more

REUTERS

U.N. pact may restrict plastic production. Big Oil aims to stop it

By John Geddie, Valerie Volcovici and Joe Brock: Fri., February 18, 2022

A global explosion of disposable plastic, which is made from oil and gas, is increasing carbon emissions, despoiling the world’s oceans, harming wildlife and contaminating the food chain. More than 50 countries, including all 27 members of the European Union, are calling for the pact to include measures targeting plastic production.

That’s a problem for big oil and chemical companies. The industry is projected to double plastic output worldwide within two decades. read more

12 August 2021

By Alex Enumah

Abuja — Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC), has finally agreed to pay compensation for oil spillages in the Ogoni community of Rivers State, to the tune of N45 billion, after over 31 years of legal battles.

The legal battle, which commenced in 1991, saw judgment in favour of the Ogoni community in 2010 by Justice Ibrahim Buba of the Lagos division of the Federal High Court.

But the oil giant declined payment and proceeded up to the Supreme Court twice; first in 2017 to appeal the judgment of the Court of Appeal, which had upheld the judgment of the trial court and in 2019, seeking a review of the apex court judgment dismissing its appeal. read more

OilPrice.com

Forget Activism: Chronic Underperformance Is Big Oil’s Biggest Problem

By Alex Kimani – Jun 06, 2021, 7:00 PM CDT

Engine No. 1 has told the Financial Times that Exxon will need to cut fossil fuel production for the company to position itself for long-term success, “What we’re saying is, plan for a world where maybe the world doesn’t need your barrels,” Engine No.1 leader Charlie Penner has told FT.

Meanwhile, a Dutch court has ordered Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE:RDS.A) to cut its greenhouse gas emissions harder and faster than it had previously planned.

Whereas climate change issues are the presumptive reasons behind the latest wave of investor revolts at the oil and gas giants, lurking beneath the surface is a growing sense of apprehension about Big Oil’s strategy and failure to generate adequate returns for shareholders in recent decades. read more

Officials give notice to Shell refinery on emissions release

April 21, 2021Updated: April 21, 2021 7:02 a.m.

ANACORTES, Wash. (AP) — The Northwest Clean Air Agency issued Tuesday a violation notice against the Shell Puget Sound Refinery for the release of emissions in August and September.

The refinery, on March Point near Anacortes, may face a financial penalty because of the incidents, which impacted the surrounding community including the Swinomish Indian Tribal Community, the Skagit Valley Herald reported.

The notice said two flaring events exceeded allowable, visible emissions for more than 5 minutes. The first occurred on Aug. 19, and the second on Sept. 29. The air agency received 12 complaints and verified the presence of odors following the Sept. 29 incident, according to a news release. read more

EPA fines Shell Oil $191,000 over release of toxic vapors from Anacortes refinery

by KOMO News Staff: Wednesday, February 10th 2021

SEATTLE – The company that operates the Anacortes oil refinery will pay a $191,000 fine for violations of the Clean Air Act stemming from a 2015 release of toxic vapors that sickened dozens of local residents of the area.

The fine, part of a settlement with the Environmental Protection Agency, is in addition to previous fines of over $420,000 levied by the Northwest Clean Air Agency and the Washington Safety and Health Agency against Shell Oil Products U.S. over the incident. read more

New York Becomes The First State To Divest From Oil And Gas

09/12/2020 13:10 GMT | Updated 09/12/2020 14:54 GMT

The Empire State’s pension fund is the largest to dump fossil fuel investments ― ever, in the entire world.

New York state announced plans on Wednesday to eject oil and gas stocks from its $226 billion financial portfolio, becoming the first U.S. state and the biggest pension fund anywhere to divest from fossil fuels.

By 2025, the New York State Common Retirement Fund, which disburses some $1 billion in benefits to retirees each year, will sell off its “riskiest” oil and gas stocks, following a review. The state aims to completely eliminate carbon polluters from its portfolio by 2040. read more

A massive Pennsylvania plastics project, owned by Shell, that President Donald Trump touted during a visit last year faces risks of oversupply and a low price outlook, an energy industry report said on Thursday.

Pandemic exposes cracks in oil majors’ bet on plastic

Joe Brock: JUNE 4, 2020

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – The energy industry’s bet that a petrochemicals boom would support decades of oil and gas sales growth is on shaky ground as an already saturated plastic market is hit by a coronavirus demand shock.

While soaring demand for personal protective equipment and takeaway food containers has boosted sales of some plastics, it is likely to be only a temporary spike, say analysts. read more

JUNE 17, 2019 / 2:17 PM

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – A Dutch court on Monday ordered Royal Dutch Shell to pay a 2.5 million euro ($2.8 million) fine for failing to prevent an explosion at its Moerdijk facility in 2014 and for breaching emissions limits at the plant.

The district court in Den Bosch said Shell had not done enough to prevent an incident on June 3, 2014 which resulted in a series of explosions and a large fire at the Moerdijk chemical plant.

“The factory, employees, the surroundings and the environment were subject to great danger that day”, the court said. “This justifies a significant punishment.” read more

MAY 15, 2019

The public prosecution department says Shell should pay the maximum fine of €2.4m for the explosion on the Moerdijk industrial estate in 2014 and a further €250,000 for not taking immediate action to halt the leak of a dangerous gas in 2016.

Shell should pay the maximum fine for the explosion because it had not done all it could to prevent the blast taking place, placing both workers and local residents in danger, the prosecutor said at a court hearing in Den Bosch on Tuesday. read more

$165K Settlement Reached With Shell Oil Over Refinery Violations in 2015, 2016

By Bay City News: Published Mar 14, 2019

The Shell Oil Company has agreed to pay $165,000 as part of an agreement with the Bay Area Air Quality Management District regarding air quality violations at their refinery in Martinez in 2015 and 2016, according to air district officials.

The settlement, which the district announced today, addresses 16 violations over two years including sulphur dioxide and hydrogen sulfide emissions, a shelter-in-place order, a cargo vessel tank that was overdue for emissions inspections and broken seals on a liquid storage tank. read more

Unplanned smoke and flaring at Shell in Deer Park

Wednesday, February 06, 2019 05:36PM

DEER PARK, Texas (KTRK) —

Officials are working to resolve an unplanned flaring activity at the Shell in Deer Park.

The company tweeted Wednesday that a process unit upset caused noticeable flames and smoke to appear from the facility.

Shell says they are working to control the smoke and flaring, and that there’s no danger to the surrounding community or industry neighbors.

SOURCE

Shell Offshore to pay $2.2 million fine for 2016 Gulf spill

By Mark Schleifstein, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune

Shell Offshore Inc. has agreed to pay a $2.2 million civil fine to the federal government to settle charges that the company violated the Clean Water Act by spilling 1,900 barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico in May 2016 when a subsea pipeline cracked at the company’s Green Canyon oil field.

The fine, announced in the Federal Register on Friday (Feb. 1), will be paid after the expiration of a 30-day comment period. The money will be deposited in the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund, which is used to pay for oil spill cleanups. read more

7 December 2018

Dow Chemical Co and Shell Oil Co have been hit with a lawsuit by the city of Arcadia, California accusing the companies of contaminating the city’s drinking water with a toxic chemical found in pesticides the companies once made.

Filed on Thursday in Los Angeles federal court, the lawsuit said the companies knew or should have known that the chemical, known as 1,2,3-trichloropropane, or TCP is toxic and renders drinking water unsafe.

The companies still manufactured and marketed pesticides containing the chemical for years, the lawsuit said. read more

BY DAVE DENTINGERNOVEMBER 29, 2018 12:41PM@BlackburnSarnia

An alert was issued by Shell Canada about an upset at its Corunna plant Thursday morning.

The Aamjiwnaang Notification System says a cat cracker unit trip is causing high flaring and noise.

A Chemical Valley Emergency Coordinating Organization notice was issued.

Imperial says elevated flaring and noise is expected to continue for several more days at the Sarnia refinery while equipment repairs are made.

Company spokesperson Kristina Zimmer said Wednesday afternoon that construction of scaffolding was complete, and a repair plan had been finalized that includes replacement of a line. read more

By Lauren Berg

Law360 (September 24, 2018, 5:05 PM EDT) — The Golden State Water Co. has accused the Dow Chemical Co., Shell Oil Co. and others of product liability violations for contaminating drinking water with unsafe amounts of TCP, a toxic chemical…

SOURCE

Law360 (February 9, 2018, 8:37 PM EST) — Shell Oil Co. lost a bid at getting more than $300 million in oil waste cleanup costs reimbursed by a Dole real estate subsidiary when a California court ruled Thursday the regional water board’s order listing the developer as a contributor to the pollution has not…

ACCESS TO FULL ARTICLE SUBJECT TO LAW360 SUBSCRIPTION

Published January 26, 2018 Features Dow Jones Newswires

Shell reported a “mechanical malfunction” that led to flaring of gases at its refinery in Martinez, Calif.

In a statement to the California Emergency Management Agency, the refinery said the flaring happened late Thursday night and caused the release of more than 500 pounds of sulfur dioxide. The flaring event has since stopped, it added.

The 160,000-barrel-a-day refinery is located about 30 miles northeast of San Francisco. read more

PETER SMITH

An umbrella group for 140 Presbyterian churches in Allegheny County is calling for a halt to the construction of a sprawling petrochemical plant in neighboring Beaver County, saying it would worsen already high levels of pollution and cancer risk in Southwestern Pennsylvania. 

“We are part of a faith tradition that has affirmed our responsibility to care for the earth as our home and care for all people, especially our most vulnerable populations,” says a letter signed by officials of the Pittsburgh Presbytery, representing more than 28,000 members of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in Allegheny County.

“This plant, and subsequent plants that are planned for the Ohio Valley, will be mass producing plastic products that have been linked to the death of animals and the diminishment of fragile natural habitats,” said the letter, approved by presbytery representatives at their December meeting. read more

By Jimitota Onoyume: 14 Dec 2017

WARRI—No fewer than  1,686,000 victims of Bonga oil field spillage in Rivers State have  dragged oil giant, Shell Nigeria Exploration Company, SNEPCO, before a United Kingdom court over its alleged failure  to pay $3,600,191,206  as compensation to them and communities affected by the incident.

Director, Oil Spill Victims Vanguard, OSPIVV, Mr Harrison Jalla, who disclosed  this to newsmen in Warri,  Delta State, said he filed a pre-action notice at the TCC High Court of Justice in London  for the victims and  communities, noting that it was unfortunate that the oil giant had allegedly failed to cushion the pains suffered by victims of the spill. read more

Footage has emerged of a Shell director saying that he was “fundamentally proud” of the company’s actions in Nigeria, only a week before Amnesty International accused the company of being closely involved with human rights abuses in the country.

The remarks were made by Andrew Brown, a member of the Royal Dutch Shell executive committee, at the Shell annual lecture, an event affiliated with the University, at Emmanuel College on the 20th November.

When asked by host Stephen Sackur, a former BBC foreign correspondent, whether he was proud of what Shell had “done over the years in Nigeria”, Brown replied that “I am, I’m fundamentally proud of what happened in Nigeria”.

The comments are likely to raise eyebrows given the controversial nature of Shell’s involvement in Nigeria. On November 28th, Amnesty International called on the British, Dutch, and Nigerian governments to investigate, with a view to prosecution, the role of Shell in human rights abuses in the 1990s. read more

7 December 2017

A new study has found that babies have a higher chance of dying in their first few weeks of life if their mothers live close to an oil spill.

Researchers studied information about babies dying and oil spills in the Niger Delta area of southern Nigeria. The researchers described their results as ‘shocking.’

The study comes from scientists from the University of Saint Gallen in Switzerland. They found that babies born in the Niger Delta were two times as likely to die in the first month of life if their mothers lived close to an oil spill before they became pregnant. read more

By Sarah Kent Published November 22, 2017: Dow Jones Newswires

LONDON –  Exxon Mobil Corp. plans to join with other big energy companies in an effort to reduce pollution from natural gas production, according to people familiar with the matter. 

The new grouping will also include Royal Dutch Shell PLC and BP PLC, according to the people. While Shell and BP have joined forces with other global players in the past in similar industrywide collaborations on environmental issues, Exxon has more typically stayed on the sidelines. read more

Bodo received support from British law firm Leigh Day, which negotiated a 55 million-pound pollution settlement with Shell in 2015.

Oil companies and activists hope it will be a blueprint for wider rehabilitation, but other badly polluted communities are unhappy not to be included.

Earlier this month, crews of young men equipped with high-pressure hoses began to attack the crude oil that has blighted the creeks and mangrove swamps in the area where they live.

The workers from Bodo in Rivers State are beginning a three-year project that claims to mark a new approach to cleaning up the delta, the vast polluted swampland that pumps the oil vital to Africa’s largest economy. read more

By Jimitota Onoyume PORT HAR-COURT— 9 November 2017

THE people of Ogoni have again enjoined the Federal Government to ensure that oil giant, Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC, does not resume operations in the area.

National Coordinator, Ken Sarowiwa Associates, Chief Gani Tobpa, in a statement in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, also called on companies intending to operate OML 11 to disclose how they will protect Ogoni communities from another round of environmental pollution, adding that they should also indicate how they would create a robust economy for the people. read more

Oil companies and activists hope it will be a blueprint for wider rehabilitation but other badly polluted communities are unhappy not to be included.

Earlier this month, crews of young men equipped with high pressure hoses began to attack the crude oil that has blighted the creeks and mangrove swamps in the area where they live.

The workers from Bodo in Rivers State are beginning a three-year project that claims to mark a new approach to cleaning up the delta, the vast polluted swampland that pumps the oil vital to Africa’s largest economy. read more

Letter from Ayoka Lawani published by The Nation on 6 Nov 2017

SIR: Recently Queen Maxima of the Netherlands visited Nigeria. While there, according to reports, she spoke vigorously about the merits of mobile money. What she came to do on behalf of the UN is not the topic here.

It is who she is that should be the business of all Nigerians. She is married to King Wilhem Alexander of the Netherlands whose mother, former Queen Beartrix  ( who abdicated for Alexander in 2013) is the single largest shareholder of the Shell Company. This makes Queen Maxima a major owner of Shell. read more

Published October 26, 2017 Features Dow Jones Newswires

Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSA RDSB) reported emissions from its Deer Park, Texas, refinery and chemical facility following a leak of benzene.

In a statement to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Shell said the emissions event happened Wednesday over a four-hour period. The cause, it said, was rooted in an Oct. 10 incident in which “a flange leak occurred at the Phenol 2 unit.”

The refinery said the flange leak is ongoing, and the material released is benzene, which is a component of crude oil that has carcinogenic properties. read more

Oct 7, 2017: One of Amazon’s considerations in choosing a location for its second headquarters is quality of life. If Amazon gets wind of what emissions will spew forth from the Shell cracker plant under construction in Beaver County — and surely it knows — it doesn’t bode well. For any of us.

We, Amazon or otherwise, are all downwind of the pollutants yet to come, with intimidating names like VOCs (volatile organic compounds) and NOs (nitrogen oxides), which combine to make ozone, which makes it hard to breathe. The projected amount is three times that emitted at our Clairton Coke Works. The projected emission of CO2, carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, is over 2 million tons annually. read more

By Dan Molinski Published October 03, 2017: Dow Jones Newswires

Royal Dutch Shell reported a leak and emissions Tuesday at its Deer Park, Texas refinery and chemical plant.

“A leak was found on the bottom of debutanizer distillation column. The cause of the leak is still under investigation,” the refinery said in a statement to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. It added that it was “reducing feed rate to unit to minimize emissions.”

Deer Park is located along the Houston Ship Channel, 20 miles east of downtown Houston. The facility includes a 326,000-barrel-a-day refinery. read more

This issue with sewer pipes is the latest development in a decade-long saga for Carousel tract residents. Developers of the 285-home community, which borders Wilmington, secretly buried remains of a former Shell Oil tank farm a few feet beneath the homes in the 1960s. The burial was kept secret until routine testing discovered soil pollution in 2008.

By Sandy Mazza, Daily Breeze: 09/16/17, 3:32 PM PDT

Years of state-led environmental investigations into massive oil contamination at Carson’s Carousel tract neighborhood missed a key problem for residents living amid the mess: the sewer pipes under some homes are literally corroded into dust.

Beyond the high cost of replacing sewer lines, the oil-degraded pipelines could present yet another major health concern for residents across the 50-acre community, a new city-commissioned study has found. read more

AN ARTICLE PUBLISHED 9 SEPT 2017 BY THE HUFFPOST AUTHORED BY A CONTRIBUTOR TO THAT PUBLICATION

By Evaggelos Vallianatos

Labs have been a permanent mechanism of the infrastructure of pesticides and agribusiness. They keep chemical companies and industrialized farmers in business.

This letter highlights the corruption enveloping Shell and SRI preparing pesticides for government approval. It did not matter that their pesticides would poison our food and the natural world.

I quote the 1977 letter. Its language may be awkward but its message is razor-sharp. I only changed the names of the persons appearing in the letter: read more

SAN FRANCISCO – For decades, Shell and Dow hid a highly potent cancer-causing chemical in two widely used pesticides, contaminating drinking water for millions of people in California and beyond, according to lawsuits detailed in a new report from EWG.

The chemical 1,2,3-trichloropropane, or TCP, was formerly an unwanted and ineffective byproduct in Dow’s Telone and Shell’s D-D pesticides. Internal documents uncovered in lawsuits filed by communities in California’s San Joaquin Valley show that the companies saved millions of dollars a year by not properly disposing of TCP, a chemical a Dow scientist once called  “garbage,” as hazardous waste. read more

December 19th, 2013, Norco Louisiana, A flare from the Shell Refinery illuminates the sky. 

Published August 07, 2017 Dow Jones Newswires

Royal Dutch Shell Plc said Monday that a fire over the weekend at its Norco refining and chemicals facility in Louisiana has forced it to shut down a unit.

“There is no timetable for the restart of the unit,” Shell said in an emailed statement, without identifying the specific unit. “Operations are stable. For reasons of commercial confidentiality, we do not provide details about the operational status of individual units or information on supply.” read more

OIL PRODUCTION: Ogoni people protest against resumption of Shell

By Davies Iheamnachor: ON AUGUST 5, 20174:25 AM

Hundreds of youths, elders, and women of Ogoni ethnic group, yesterday, protested against the resumption of oil exploration activities in their area by the Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC, and Nigeria Petroleum Development Company NPDC.

This came a few days to the expiration of a seven-day ultimatum issued by the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People, MOSOB, to shun it’s planned return to Ogoniland. The protesters, who gathered at Kpobie Junction in Gokana Local Government Area, marched with placards bearing anti-Shell inscriptions. read more

Anxiety as MOSOP, others protest Shell’s resumption of oil production in Ogoniland

Posted By: Bisi Olaniyi, Port Harcourt On: August 5, 2017

Thousands of Ogoni people, from the four Local Government Areas of Khana, Gokana, Tai and Eleme, yesterday defied the heavy rain to massively protest the return of the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) to resume crude oil production and laying of pipelines, after the Anglo/Dutch oil giant was sent packing from Ogoniland over 24 years ago.

The protesters, comprising elderly men, women and youths, who were armed with placards, bearing various inscriptions, drumming and singing anti-Shell songs, were led by the President of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), Chief Legborsi Saro Pyagbara. read more

ADAM KLASFELD: June 13, 2017

MANHATTAN (CN) — No longer protected by its deals with California prosecutors, BP and Shell must face another lawsuit alleging that its underground storage tanks continue to pollute Orange County’s groundwater with a toxic gasoline additive.

The British and Dutch oil giants were named among the dozens of fossil-fuel companies in hundreds of lawsuits over the chemical methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE).

Used to raise the oxygen level in gasoline, MTBE is banned by more than half of the states in the nation. The Environmental Protection Agency has flagged it as a possible human carcinogen at high doses. read more

Shell Must Face ‘Take-Home’ Asbestos Suit, Calif. Court Says

Law360, New York (June 6, 2017, 7:03 PM EDT) —

A California appeals court has reversed itself and revived a lawsuit against Shell Oil Co. filed by a former employee’s wife who alleges she contracted mesothelioma from exposure to asbestos that accumulated on her husband’s work clothing. The decision by the Second Appellate District panel on Friday followed the state Supreme Court’s December finding in Kesner v. Superior Court of California that employers can be held liable for injuries caused by secondhand asbestos exposure suffered by household members of employees. The panel, following the high court’s “take-home” liability… read more

WASHINGTON — Shell Oil Co. and Dow Chemical hid a cancer-causing chemical in two commonly-used pesticides that contaminated the drinking water of millions of people in the state of California, according to lawsuits detailed in a report from the Environmental Working Group earlier this month.

TCP, a poisonous insecticide gas, was used for decades in the pesticide Telone, made by Dow, and D-D, made by Shell.

Shell stopped using D-D in 1984, while Dow ceased usage of Telone during the late 1990s. But “garbage” chemical TCP was found in tap water supplies of about four million people in 13 states between 2013 to 2015, according to the nonprofit group. read more

For decades, Shell and Dow hid a highly potent cancer-causing chemical in two widely used pesticides, contaminating drinking water for millions of people in California and beyond, according to lawsuits detailed in a new report from the Environmental Working Group (EWG).

The chemical 1,2,3-trichloropropane or TCP, was formerly an unwanted and ineffective byproduct in Dow’s Telone and Shell’s D-D pesticides. Internal documents uncovered in lawsuits filed by communities in California’s San Joaquin Valley show that the companies saved millions of dollars a year by not properly disposing of TCP, a chemical a Dow scientist once called “garbage,” as hazardous waste. read more

(Photo: John Li / Getty Images)

Regin Olimberio: Mar 28, 2017 07:10 PM EDT

Oil and petroleum giant Shell blamed the Nigerian residents in the Delta community for its slow response in cleaning up the two oil spill incidents in 2008. Amidst almost a decade-long effort, Shell wasn’t able to fully contain the spill. However, there is a possibility that the clean-up might start next month.

To recall, the Royal Dutch Shell admitted responsibility for two pipeline leaks that subsequently contaminated the Bodo community. Shell also agreed to a $68 million settlement after accepting the liability over the corroded pipelines in 2015. Since then, the oil spills haven’t yet been addressed. read more

BY MICHELLE FAUL: Associated Press: JOHANNESBURG: MARCH 24, 2017 7:36 AM

Royal Dutch Shell’s Nigeria subsidiary “fiercely opposed” environmental testing and is concealing data showing thousands of Nigerians are exposed to health hazards from a stalled cleanup of the worst oil spills in the West African nation’s history, according to a German geologist contracted by the Dutch-British multinational.

An environmental study found “astonishingly high” pollution levels with soil “literally soaked with hydrocarbons,” geologist Kay Holtzmann wrote in a letter to the Bodo Mediation Initiative. read more

The former director of the cleanup project says Shell has denied him permission to publish the study’s results, which dictated a need for health screenings in the Bodo community.

Mar. 23, 2017 5:19 PM ET|By: Carl Surran, SA News Editor

Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) oil spills that have not been cleaned up for more than eight years have contributed to “astonishingly high” levels of pollution in a Nigerian community, WSJ reports, citing a consultant who helped produce a confidential damage assessment for the company and its partners.

The former director of the cleanup project says Shell has denied him permission to publish the study’s results, which dictated a need for health screenings in the Bodo community. read more

Emily Gosden, energy editor

8 JANUARY 2017 • 10:23PM

In January 2015, Royal Dutch Shell agreed to pay £55m in compensation to thousands of residents of Bodo, a fishing community in the Niger Delta. Their livelihoods had been devastated by two oil spills in 2008-09 that had been caused by corroded Shell pipelines.

After years of high-profile wrangling, the landmark settlement was supposed to draw a line under one of the most toxic reputational issues for the Anglo-Dutch energy giant, and pave the way for the oil blighting the village to finally be cleaned up. read more

BY ANDREA CASTILLO: DECEMBER 21, 2016 12:55 PM

The City of Clovis won its more than three-month civil trial against the chemical manufacturing giant Shell Oil Company over the cleanup of a toxic chemical found in drinking-water wells around the city of 108,000 people.

The chemical is 1, 2, 3-Trichloropropane, or TCP, which is a waste product from making plastic. TCP was in farm fumigants last used in the 1980s, which were injected into the ground to kill tiny worms called nematodes. A jury awarded the city nearly $22 million, finding that the Clovis residents were harmed by the design of the fumigant, that Shell did not prove the benefits of its product outweighed the risks and that those risks were known at the time it was sold. read more

19 Dec 2016

MARTINEZ, CA. —Contra Costa Health Services is advising people to avoid the area around the Shell Refinery in Martinez this afternoon due to “excessive flaring and black smoke.”

The Health Services website issued the alert at 2:20 p.m. for the refinery at 3485 Pacheco Blvd.

People with respiratory conditions are being advised to take precautions and avoid the area.

The flaring is the result of a power outage, according to Health Services officials.

SOURCE