London law form Leigh Day files two cases against Shell on behalf of Ogoni communities

BRITISH lawyers representing the Ogale and Bille communities in the Ogoni area of the Niger Delta have filed two cases before a London high court demanding compensation from Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell over environmental degradation.

 

Over the last 20 years, Shell and local communities in the Niger Delta have been involved in numerous legal disputes die to the impact of oil spills which have polluted creeks, rivers and farmland. Yesterday, British law firm, Leigh Day, representing the two communities brought fresh damage claims against Shell.

 

In the two cases, the legal team sought to compel the Anglo-Dutch oil giant to clean up the damage caused in the communities and to also pay compensation. They hope to convince the court that Shell is liable for failing to protect its pipelines in Bille community from damage caused by third parties, which, they said, could mark a significant expansion in the firm’s liability.

 

A 2011 report by the United Nations Environment Programme (Unep) found that decades of oil pollution in Ogoniland where Ogale is located, may require the world’s biggest ever clean-up. Leigh Day said that Shell, historically Nigeria’s largest producer, has failed to act on the report despite its promises to do so.

 

Last year, Amnesty International levelled the same accusation against Shell. Lawyers who filed the case argued that the 40,000-strong Ogale community continues to live with chronic levels of land and water pollution, which has had a devastating impact on its farming and fishing.

 

In hearings expected to take place later this year, Shell will argue that the two cases should be heard in Nigeria, not in Britain. A spokesman for Shell's Nigerian subsidiary said that both Bille and Ogale are areas heavily impacted by oil theft, sabotage and illegal refining, which the company has long argued are the main causes of pollution in the Niger Delta.

 

He added that in Ogoniland, the company was acting on the UN report through an 18-month clean-up and remediation programme agreed last year with the Nigerian government and community members. In January last year, Shell agreed to pay more than $80m to the Nigerian fishing community of Bodo for two serious oil spills in 2008, following a three-year legal battle brought by Leigh Day in London.