MEDIA ADVISORY
Friends of the Earth International
community victory: shell to replace fuel
pipelines
SOUTH DURBAN (SOUTH AFRICA) 24 February
2006 -- Friends of the Earth International
today welcomed an unreported announcement of
oil giant Shell which said this week that it
will replace all fuel transport pipelines
linking the Shell oil refinery to the Durban
harbor in South Durban. [1]
The decision comes after a meeting between
Friends of the Earth International, community
people from South Durban and Shell CEO Jeroen
van de Veer in December 2005. [2]
Shell's fuel pipelines and holding tanks
have been under severe scrutiny in South
Durban, after several leaks in 2001, where
more than 1 million litres of petrol leaked
through rusting infrastructure to settle in
communities and under peoples' homes, [3]
resulting in people having to relocate from
their homes.
Friends of the Earth International worked
with the South Durban Community Environmental
Alliance (SDCEA) [4], GroundWork [5] and a
global network of civil society organizations
calling for Shell to be held accountable for
its leaking fuel pipelines in South
Durban.
Desmond D’Sa, chairperson of SDCEA, said:
"Despite the fact that Shell tried to unduly
influence political leadership in Durban, we
managed to expose this process and force
Shell to respond to our legitimate
demands."
Up until December 2005, Shell was not
prepared to accept the community demand of
replacing the south Durban fuel pipelines.
Shell decided to replace the pipelines under
pressure from a mix of shareholder activism,
political lobbying and community mobilization
over the past five years.
"Shell is finally accountable to the South
Durban community, and this victory shows that
corporations can be held accountable
throughout the global South when
international campaigns are coupled with
local community pressure," said Bobby Peek of
Groundwork/Friends of the Earth South
Africa.
The campaigning organisations now expect
Shell to start moving on other critical
pollution reduction plans and improve
operating conditions at the local Shell oil
refinery.
for more information contact in south
africa:
Bobby Peek, Groundwork/Friends of the
Earth South Africa: +27-82-464 1383
Desmond D'Sa, South Durban Community
Environmental Alliance: +27-83-982 6939
notes:
[1] Friends of the Earth International is
the world's largest grassroots environmental
network, with approximately 1.5 million
members and supporters around the world.
[2] Civil Society organizations from the
USA, Brazil, The Philippines, Nigeria,
Russia, Ireland and Curaçao have worked in a
coalition to hold Shell accountable.
[3] see:
http://www.groundwork.org.za/Press%20Releases/pr_shell_agm.asp
http://www.foei.org/media/2003/1006.html
http://www.milieudefensie.nl/globalisering/doemee/earthalarm/eng87zuidafrika.htm
[4] SDCEA is a local environmental justice
organisation based in south Durban that
provides a collective voice for the various
community organisations and residents in
south Durban, who live adjacent to the
petro-chemical industrial developments in the
south Durban area. See:
http://www.h-net.org/~esati/sdcea/images.html
[5] groundWork/Friends of the Earth, South
Africa is an environmental justice
organisation working focusing on air
pollution, waste and corporate abuse and
works with community organisations living
adjacent to petro-chemical facilities in
south Durban, Sasolburg, Secunda and Cape
Town. See
www.groundwork.org.za
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