Court allows dismantling of 'Exxon Valdez' in India

The Indian Supreme Court (SC) has allowed in its decision this week the dismantling of the controversial US ship ‘MV Oriental N’, formerly called ‘Exxon Valdez’, at the Alang Ship Recycling Yard.

The court, however, also ruled that in future no vessel should be dismantled in the country in contravention of the Basel Convention, an international treaty on cross-boundary movement of hazardous wastes that, among others, insists on prior consent by the host country and prior decontamination of vessels in the country of origin, a lawyer for the petitioner added in a telephone interview from Delhi.

A written copy of the judgement had not been made available by the court at the time of writing this story. The entry of the former oil tanker, which gained notoriety for running aground and spilling crude oil on the Alaskan coastline in 1989, has been stalled since May after Delhi-based activist Gopal Krishna filed a petition demanding it not be allowed since Basel Convention rules had not been followed. For their part, government agencies with jurisdiction over the yard at Alang told CRS that an inspection of the ship, which was converted into an ore carrier a few years ago, found no hazardous wastes in loose form on-board.

As per the rules framed on the basis of the SC's earlier orders on shipbreaking, the government can therefore allow the ship's entry for dismantling, they had said. The ship is currently anchored about 6 nautical miles off Alang with its 15-member Indian crew. "In their affidavits, the MoEF, the Gujarat Maritime Board, the Ministry of Shipping and the Gujarat Pollution Control Board all said there is no hazardous waste in loose form on the ship. But none have ever filed an inventory of materials found on-board. The court has said during dismantling if any waste is found in the ship, it should be disposed of through proper process in the landfill and the cost borne by the ship owner," said Sanjay Parikh, the advocate who represented Gopal Krishna, the petitioner. "I am happy that the court has also ordered there be no dismantling of ships in the future without the Basel Convention being followed," he said.

A government official in Alang who did not wish to be named said disposal costs being borne by the owner is standard practice at the yard, and that non-loose waste found on-board ships are disposed of by a company specially hired for the process into a special treatment facility currently being expanded. The strict implementation of the Basel Convention to ship-breaking in India has alarmed state government officials because the Alang Ship Recycling Yard, considered Asia's largest, 'produces' up to four million tons of recycled steel per year, besides providing wares to a thriving antiques and second-hand furniture market nearby the yard itself and supports thousands of jobs directly or indirectly. Earlier this month, Gujarat's Chief Secretary A K Joti had publicly pleaded with MoEF Secretary T Chatterjee that a "level playing field" be established because end-of-life ships would go to neighbours Pakistan, Bangladesh and China for dismantling because these countries are "violating the convention with impunity".

Prior decontamination of end-of-life ships, said a senior official, would hit business at Alang because ships built in the last century contain asbestos and other material as insulating material for engines and other machinery, and 'decontaminating' these at the point of origin would effectively paralyze vessels, making it either economically nonviable or impossible to ships to Alang.

Shell asked to pay $5B fine for Bonga oil spill

The Federal Government has asked Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCo) to pay $5 billion for the oil spill that occurred in its Bonga oil field in December last year. But the Managing Director of SNEPCo, Chike Onyejekwe, said the company was not thinking about compensation for affected communities, saying the spill did not reach the shoreline before it was contained.

The disclosures were made this week at a meeting organised by the House of Representatives Committee on Environment aimed to ascertain progress report on the Bonga oil spill of 28 December 2011. Chairman of the Committee, Uche Ekwenife said going by reports and complaints from affected communities, it was clear that no clean-up had been carried out by Shell, and that there was a need to have a knowledge of efforts taken so far by the Government and the oil company. Ekwenife pointed out that there were indications that Shell had refused to accept full responsibility for the incident and had rebutted the claims from communities allegedly impacted by the spill.

In his presentation, the Director-General, National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), Mr Peter Idabor, said Shell was sanctioned for the large quantity of crude oil discharged into the environment and the impact on economic and environment of the affected communities. He said the fine was for 'administrative penalty,' adding that it is consistent with similar fines for similar pollution events in other oil producing countries such as Venezuela, Brazil and the United States of America. Though he explained that the penalty should not be taken as compensation, "because compensation is only demanded from a polluter company after a proper post impact assessment has been conducted and scientific evidence of impact established". According to the Director-General of NOSDRA, Shell and other stakeholders plan to conduct the Post Impact Assessment (PIA) on the spill as soon as approval for funding was secured from National Petroleum Investment Management Services. He said: "Although adequate containment measures were put in place to combat the Bonga oil spill, it however posed a serious environmental threat to the offshore environments. "The spilled 40,000 barrels impacted approximately 950 square kilometres of water surface; affected great number of sensitive environmental resources across the impacted area and has direct social impact on the livelihood of people in the riverine areas whose primary occupation is fishing. "It also potentially caused a number of physiological and hispathological effects on aquatic lives while surviving aquatic species around the spill site would migrate to a farther distance to new habitats thereby forcing coastal communities to move deeper into the sea to carry out fishing activities".

However, Onyejekwe said the status of the spill could not be known until about the end of the year. While claiming that over 325 claims have been received from different communities over the spill, Onyejekwe said his organisation was not thinking about compensating the communities for now. He said the oil spill did not hit the shoreline of the communities and as such would not compensate for the Bonga oil spill.

Shell's spokesman Tony Okonedo said: "We do not believe there is any basis in law for such a fine. Neither do we believe the SNEPCo has committed any infraction of Nigerian law to warrant such a fine." He said the firm handled the incident with utmost care and acted with the consent of the necessary authorities to prevent the environmental impact.

Chevron fines $25M for November oil spill in Santos Basin

Brazil’s National Petroleum Agency, ANP, said it will fine Chevron for its November oil spill below the maximum allowable fine of R$50 million, or roughly $25 million. Given that it is not at the maximum, Chevron is actually being fined less than many people had expected at the outset of the November oil spill.
ANP said on Monday that they will deliver the exact fine to Chevron later this week for 25 infractions caused in the oil spill in the so-called Frade Field in the Santos Basin. Between 2,400 and 3,000 barrels of oil seeped into the Atlantic Ocean from a crack in the ocean floor during a drilling miscalculation. No wildlife was believed to have been harmed and no oil washed up on shore, though the spill sparked outrage and lawsuits galore in Rio de Janeiro which basically put the Chevron president, George Buck, under house arrest. Buck was not allowed to leave the country during the investigation. Brazil’s environmental protection agency, Ibama, had already fined Chevron R$60 million in November.
Fines levied on Total have not been paid as the legal procedure continues.
Brazil has become a hot bed of oil companies over the last five years since Petrobras, the nation’s oil company, discovered oil in two basins at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, over 70 miles off shore. Much of it is buried beneath salt and rock and costly to get to, but that has not stopped every major oil company from prospecting and drilling in the Santos and Campos basins for Brazilian crude.

Greenpeace targets Shell

Environmental campaigners are threatening to shut down every Shell petrol station in Edinburgh in a protest against the company's plans to drill in the Arctic region.  Greenpeace said they intended to close about a dozen stations across the capital.  One of the first to be targeted was in Dalry Road, in the west of the city. Shell said it recognised the right of individuals to express their point of view.

Activists said they were using the emergency shut-off switch, which stops petrol going to the pumps, to close the stations. They also draped a large banner showing images of animals Greenpeace believes are threatened by oil exploration in the Arctic, and used tape carrying the slogan Save the Arctic to close access to the station. Protesters could be seen on the roof of the Shell station in Dalry Road early on Monday morning, and a man in a polar bear outfit chained himself to a pump before being cut free and led away by police.

Greenpeace also claimed to have shut the Maybury Shell station in Edinburgh, and said five of its activists had been arrested in the city by 09:00. The protesters said they planned to spend the rest of the day touring the city using a combination of low-emission cars, bikes and public transport while shutting off the petrol supply to other Shell pumps.  It also said it would broadcast live video of the protest on its website.

A similar direct action protest is being carried out in London, where Greenpeace activists said they were aiming to shut about 100 Shell stations. Greenpeace's Sara Ayech said: "The oil giant Shell is preparing, for the first time, to unleash a drilling fleet of huge vessels upon the fragile and beautiful Arctic, home of the polar bears. It's time to draw a line in the ice and tell Shell to stop. That's why today we're going to shut down all of Shell's petrol stations in the capital cities of London and Edinburgh. We've got dozens of people who will hit over 100 Shell garages throughout the day.  An oil spill in the Arctic would be catastrophic for wildlife such as walruses and whales, and Shell knows full well that it would be impossible to clean up after such devastation. The Arctic must be saved, and made a global sanctuary where oil drilling is banned."

The protest comes after more than a dozen people were detained as Greenpeace activists blocked access to Shell's headquarters in The Hague in the Netherlands on Friday.

A spokesman for Shell said: "Shell recognises that certain organisations are opposed to our exploration programme offshore Alaska, and we respect the right of individuals and organisations to engage in a free and frank exchange of views about our operations. Recognising the right of individuals to express their point of view, we only ask that they do so with their safety and the safety of others, including the general public and Shell personnel in mind. Shell has met with numerous organisations and individuals who oppose drilling offshore Alaska. We respect their views and value the dialogue. We have extended this same offer for productive dialogue to Greenpeace."

Greenpeace launched a Save The Arctic campaign last month to preserve the land mass from oil exploration and industrial fishing. The group has called for an agreement to ban environmentally damaging activities in the Arctic region, just as they were banned in the Antarctic 21 years ago under a protocol added to the Antarctic Treaty. In May, the Greenpeace's activists temporarily halted several icebreakers heading for the Arctic in a bid to block Shell's plans to drill for oil in the region. And last month the environmental group called for more use of renewable energy and greener cars in what it said would help protect the Arctic and other areas from being spoiled by oil drilling.

According to the US Geological Survey, the Arctic is believed to hold 13% of the planet's undiscovered oil reserves and 30% of its undiscovered natural gas.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-18853009

Li Ka-shing to purchase £1B of UK gas assets

A group of companies controlled by Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing has agreed to buy UK gas company Wales and West Utilities for £645M ($1 billion), the latest acquisition by the tycoon that will boost his gas portfolio in Britain.

Octogenarian Li has been expanding his business empire by buying into regulated infrastructure and utilities assets in developed countries, especially Britain -- which is open to foreign ownership of its infrastructure assets.

Blue-chip property developer Cheung Kong (Holdings) Ltd said it had formed a joint venture with Cheung Kong Infrastructure Holdings Ltd, Power Assets Holdings Ltd and the Li Ka Shing Foundation Ltd to buy the company, which is involved in the management of gas transportation assets and gas distribution in Wales and the southwest of England.

"We are pleased to have the opportunity to acquire another high-quality asset, which is poised to extend our growth momentum and generate recurring profit contributions similar to that of our other infrastructure projects," Kam Hing-lam, group managing director of Cheung Kong Infrastructure, told reporters.

Wales and West Utilities' distribution network area supplies 7.4 million customers in an area of 42,000 square kilometres, or almost one-sixth the area of the UK, while the total length of the main gas pipeline is about 35,000 kilometres.

For statement please click http://www.hkexnews.hk/listedco/listconews/sehk/2012/0725/LTN20120725036.pdf

The consortium involved in the deal, which is expected to be completed at the end of September subject to European Commission approval, said it agreed to buy the British firm from several investment and fund management companies including Macquarie Global Infrastructure Funds 2 SARL.

Wales and West Utilities would add to Li's assets in Britain, where he agreed to buy utility Northumbrian Water Group last August for 2.41 billion pounds and further cement his reputation as a savvy deal-maker, which has earned him the nickname "superman" in local media.

In 2010, Cheung Kong Infrastructure and Li's other investment arm, Power Asset Holdings, agreed to buy the British electricity distribution networks of France's EDF, which provide power to London and southeast Britain, for 5.8 billion pounds.

The news comes as Cheung Kong Infrastructure, which is controlled by Li's conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa Ltd and is leading the consortium, plans a share placement.

A term sheet seen by Reuters on Tuesday said Cheung Kong Infrastructure planned to raise up to $307 million. Its shares were suspended on Wednesday morning and a company executive said it was related to a share placement.

Greenland Ice Melt, Measured By NASA Satellites, Reaches Unprecedented Level

Unprecedented melting of Greenland's ice sheet this month has stunned NASA scientists and has highlighted broader concerns that the region is losing a remarkable amount of ice overall.
According to a NASA press release, about half of Greenland's surface ice sheet naturally melts during an average summer. But the data from three independent satellites this July, analyzed by NASA and university scientists, showed that in less than a week, the amount of thawed ice sheet surface skyrocketed from 40 percent to 97 percent.
In over 30 years of observations, satellites have never measured this amount of melting, which reaches nearly all of Greenland's surface ice cover.
When Son Nghiem of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory observed the recent melting phenomenon, he said in the NASA press release, "This was so extraordinary that at first I questioned the result: Was this real or was it due to a data error?"
Scientists at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, University of Georgia-Athens and City University of New York all confirmed the remarkable ice melt.
NASA's cryosphere program manager, Tom Wagner, credited the power of satellites for observing the melt and explained that, although this specific event may be part of a natural variation, "We have abundant evidence that Greenland is losing ice, probably because of global warming, and it's significantly contributing to sea level rise."
Wagner said that ice is clearly thinning around the periphery, changing Greenland's overall ice mass, and he believes this is primarily due to warming ocean waters "eating away at the ice." He cautiously added, "It seems likely that's correlated with anthropogenic warming."
This specific extreme melt occurred in large part due to an unusual weather pattern over Greenland this year, what the NASA press release describes as a series of "heat domes," or an "unusually strong ridge of warm air."
Notable melting occurred in specific regions of Greenland, such as the area around Summit Station, located two miles above sea level. Not since 1889 has this kind of melting occurred, according to ice core analysis described in NASA's press release.
Goddard glaciologist Lora Koenig said that similar melting events occur about every 150 years, and this event is consistent with that schedule, citing the previous 1889 melt. But, she added, "if we continue to observe melting events like this in upcoming years, it will be worrisome."
"One of the big questions is 'What's happening in the Arctic in general?'" Wagner said.
Just last week, another unusual event occurred in the region: the calving of an iceberg twice the size of Manhattan from Greenland's Petermann Glacier.
Over the past few months, separate studies have emerged that suggest humans are playing a "dominant role" in ocean warming, and that specific regions of the world, such as the U.S. East Coast, are increasingly vulnerable to sea level rise.
Wagner explained that in recent years, studies have observed thinning sea ice and "dramatic" overall changes. He was clear, "We don’t want to lose sight of the fact that Greenland is losing a tremendous amount of ice overall."
 
NASA CAPTION: Extent of surface melt over Greenland’s ice sheet on July 8 (left) and July 12 (right). Measurements from three satellites showed that on July 8, about 40 percent of the ice sheet had undergone thawing at or near the surface. In just a few days, the melting had dramatically accelerated and an estimated 97 percent of the ice sheet surface had thawed by July 12. In the image, the areas classified as “probable melt” (light pink) correspond to those sites where at least one satellite detected surface melting. The areas classified as “melt” (dark pink) correspond to sites where two or three satellites detected surface melting. The satellites are measuring different physical properties at different scales and are passing over Greenland at different times. As a whole, they provide a picture of an extreme melt event about which scientists are very confident. Credit: Nicolo E. DiGirolamo, SSAI/NASA GSFC, and Jesse Allen, NASA Earth Observatory

Fire fighters tackle plastics recycling blaze in Hull

Firefighters have tackled a blaze which sent toxic smoke over the east of Hull.

The fire at a plastics recycling unit on Helsinki Road on the Sutton Fields Industrial Estate which started in the early hours of yesterday morning is now under control. At its height, 60 firefighters were at the scene and water had to be pumped from the nearby river.

Chief Fire Officer for Humberside Fire & Rescue Services Richard Hannigan said the flames were 30m-40m high at the peak of the fire.

"We've got the situation well and truly under control" he said. "Four appliances are at the scene damping down. We're now into the investigation phase of the incident to try and discover the cause of the fire. We want to prevent this happening again," he said.

CRS helps organisations of all types to prevent fires, life and asset losses. Is our NEBOSH Fire and Risk Management Certificate, taught and examined in one week, for you?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-humber-18964419