Source:
http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/reports/behind_shine.pdf
Behind The Shine – The Other Shell Report 2003
Durban is home to the massive South African Petroleum Refinery (SAPREF) which is the largest crude oil refinery in South Africa. Jointly owned by Shell and BP, the SAPREF refinery began operating in the 1960s and has the capacity to process more than 185,000 barrels of oil per day. The refinery complex is in an area of south Durban populated by poor black, Indian, and mixed-race communities. SAPREF’s aging infrastructure has caused an appalling catalogue of accidents in recent years that have had devastating consequences for local people and the environment.
Shell’s assurance to Durban at the 2003 AGM Desmond D’Sa is a Durban resident and Chairperson of the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance (SDCEA), a coalition of community organizations from diverse racial, ethnic, and religious backgrounds that advocates for industrial pollution reduction and accident prevention. In 2003, Desmond traveled to the Shell AGM in London and eloquently spoke out against Shell’s hazardous operations in Durban. During the AGM, Sir Philip Watts, then CEO of the Shell Group, gave Desmond his personal assurance that action would be taken to clean up the SAPREF facility. Such action has not occurred. One year after Watts’ assurance, the South Durban communities continue to suffer from repeated industrial accidents and hazardous spills. (See section entitled Examples of Shell’s documented spills, fires, and toxic releases since the 2003 Shell AGM).
Double standards
Shell asserts that it uses the best environmental standards at its facilities worldwide. In fact, however, Shell is guilty of using a double standard, one that often provides cleaner facilities in areas around the world with predominantly Caucasian populations as compared to dirtier and more hazardous facilities located in places where people of color live. For example, on a daily basis, the SAPREF refinery dumps 19 tons of sulphur dioxides into the air that people in the neighbouring communities breathe, which is more than six times the amount of sulphur dioxide released by Shell’s refinery in Denmark2. Sulphur dioxide is a severe respiratory irritant which can trigger asthma attacks, and a 2002 health study by the Durban Environmental Health Department and two universities confirms the significant incidence of chronic asthma among Durban residents, especially children3. Further, unlike Shell facilities in Europe, the SAPREF refinery does not employ an effective rust detecting system, which has resulted in the leakage of 25 tons of tetra ethyl lead, a harmful neurotoxin, into the environment.
Ignoring the problem
SDCEA and groundwork (Friends of the Earth South Africa), an environmental justice organization, have repeatedly urged Shell to deal specifically with the environmental issues of its refinery that plague Durban residents. However, rather than taking action to remedy the excessive pollution and frequent accidents at its operations, SAPREF has gone to the expense of bringing international consultants from Shell’s headquarters in London to spend their time and resources on what they believe are social issues affecting fence line communities4. This is reflective of a strategy increasingly employed by Shell to offer “feel good” projects, such as academic scholarships and new playgrounds, in order to divert attention from the serious health and environmental impacts of its operations. In those instances when SAPREF does attempt to address environmental issues, such attempts are woefully inadequate, fail to respond to community demands, and ignore the root of the problem. For example, although SAPREF brought Shell experts from its offices in the Hague and London to assist in cleaning up around leaking pipes that have spilled over 1.3 million liters of petrol under the homes of Durban residents, SAPREF and Shell experts refuse residents’ demands for relocation of the faulty pipelines away from their homes, and the implementation of appropriate environmental improvements in SAPREF’s refinery operations5
