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1208shell
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press release
friends of the earth international
shell fenceline communities: shell ceo
must deliver on his promises
-campaign to right shell’s wrongs
continues-
Amsterdam (The Netherlands), 8 December 2005
--- Communities living on the fenceline of
Shell’s operations from around the world met
today with Shell CEO Van de Veer to ask for
concrete commitments to solve their serious
environmental and health problems.
Van de Veer agreed to a direct line of
communication from the fenceline communities
to the highest level of decision making
within Royal Dutch Shell. However, Van der
Veer did not want to take ultimate
responsibility for the operations of his
local facilities, which is a matter of
concern to the fenceline groups.
Shell admitted that stakeholder dialogue
must be improved and that monitoring of
emissions can be done better, but claims that
it cannot prescribe or dictate specific
improvements to local plant managers. Shell
refused to agree upon criteria for the
engagement of community groups on
environmental issues.
Before the company's AGM in April 2006, the
groups will report to Shell and the public
what progress has been made on these issues.
The groups will continue to campaign locally
and globally to stop the company’s
wrongdoings. Shell will be expected to
deliver on its promises, particularly in
projects under development where crucial
construction decisions will be made, such as
those in County Mayo, Ireland and Sakhalin
Island.
“Shell talks about its philosophies, but
philosophy doesn’t fix pipelines and it
doesn’t cure pollution-related illness” says
Norbert George from Curacao. “The ball is in
Shell’s court to show that they live up to
their standards, and this should be
demonstrated by concrete actions.”
“Shell’s double standards have been well
documented,” said Desmond D’sa from Durban,
South Africa. “They use cleaner and safer
technologies at the Shell refinery in Denmark
than they do in Durban, for example.”
Shell’s management agreed to a direct line
of communication for fenceline neighbors to
the CEO, and also agreed to consider the
installation of real time fenceline air
monitoring at their refineries. However, the
company declined to agree to the following
requests: objective criteria for engaging
appropriate stakeholders on environmental
issues (denied); expedited timeline for
upgrading aging equipment in developing
countries (denied); a joint process to
determine responsibility for contamination
from operations (denied); and the erasure of
double standards in their operations in
developed nations versus developing nations
(disagreement upon the facts).
The delegation from Shell consisted of
high-level senior managers. From the
fenceline communities, there were
representatives from Nigeria, South Africa,
Curacao, Texas and Brazil. Shell’s operations
have been a concern of the global alliance of
fenceline communities for three years, and
affected groups have issued numerous reports
documenting Shell’s poor performance.
For more information see:
www.shellfacts.com
for more information contact
Paul de Clerck, Friends of the Earth
International: +-31-6-29593877
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