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SDN Partner CEHRD reports on continuous oil spills in Edagberi community and ineffectual cleanup operations

Top: A sunken boom covered in oil failing to contain the oil spill
Bottom: A wall of palm leaves and sticks is used by SPDC cleanup workers to try to stop the oil spill

On 15 August 2009, representatives from the Centre for Environment, Human Rights and Development (CEHRD) visited Edagberi community in Rivers State, Nigeria, to investigate reports of continuous oil spills in the area.

Edagberi community, also known as Joinkrama 4 (or simply JK4) is in the Ahoada West Local Government Area of Rivers State. The area has 44 oil wells in the Adibawa oil field operated by the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC).

Between 2006 and 2009, Edagberi and the surrounding land has suffered no fewer than 16 oil spillages, making it one of the worst oil impacted communities in the Niger Delta.

The aging pipelines that criss-cross the jungle landscape struggle to cope with the high pressure of oil being pumped through them with disastrous consequences for the community.

The spills in Edagberi have affected the local hand-line fishing tradition which is a major source of sustenance for local people. CEHRD met a 60 year old fisherman trying to fish in the waters of the Taylor channel who told them how things were for him and his family:

“Fishing is my only means of living. I have nowhere to go for help. My family is in trouble because these days, I hardly catch fish that will feed me alone, not to talk of my entire family.”

Vegetation and animal diversity have also been impacted with plants showing signs of withering due to the heavy metals that are known constituents of crude oil. These same heavy metals also persist in the food chain increasing the toxicity of the food caught and grown in the area.

CEHRD say the most recent spill at Taylor Creek caused severe damage to local cultivated cassava plants. The owners of impacted farmlands had no choice but to carry out an emergency harvest of their cassavas along the contaminated creek edges.

Cassava is a root crop that tolerates poor soil conditions, and can be left in the soil for as long as the farmer desires, making it a readily available food source at any time of the year. Such an unplanned harvest will likely cause food insecurity over the coming weeks and months.

A history of spillages and ineffectual action

In June 2009, following pressure from the community, the Shell Petroleum Development Company replaced some sections of the vulnerable pipeline.

Within a month, on Thursday, 16 July, 2009, another section of the the pipeline ruptured about 400m away from the Adibawa flow-station.

Two weeks later, on August 2, 2009 there was yet another spill along the same crude oil delivery pipeline, but at a different section near Taylor Creek. Oil pumped downstream into Taylor Creek until August 11, 2009, when the leak was eventually clamped.

Detailed Post Impact Assessment (PIA) studies should be commissioned following all oil spills in order to ascertain the short and long term impact. Unfortunately PIA studies are rarely carried out in Nigeria.

So what does the Shell Petroleum Development Company do about this?

Industry protocol also states that a Joint Inspection Team (JIT) report should be completed in the field by all stakeholders once the cause of a spillage has been detected and agreed upon. Copies of the report should then be given to all other stakeholders including the affected community.

“In virtually every spill cases, our community representative has been either trickily or forcefully asked to countersign the signature page of a blank JIT report form and promised to be given a copy of the completed report later on. SPDC usually go away with the report forms under the watchful eyes of representatives of government regulatory agencies and security operatives with the promise that the report will be completed at their office. Occasionally, JIT reports have been given to us days after the joint inspection had been done, usually undated, having no useful tracking information but the signature page is duly signed by all parties.” One Community member told CEHRD.

To substantiate their claim CEHRD received a copy of previously signed but blank JIT report. A recent Amnesty International report has also questioned the authenticity and absence of JIT reports on oil spills in the Niger Delta.

When CEHRD visited Edagberi they also observerved poor quality and incomplete containment of the spill.

Containment booms that had been laid out on the waters surface had been breached or broken and, despite it's huge profits, the Shell Petroleum Development Company workers had resorted to using palm fronds tied to wooden stakes to try, ineffectually, to stop the oil from spreading.

At the time of writing the spills that occurred during July and August 2009 have yet to be cleaned up...

Video: Another day, another oil spill in the delta
August 2009: A video of an oil spill by SHELL in the Edagberi community in the Niger Delta area of Nigeria.