http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/reports/behind_shine.pdf
Source: http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/reports/behind_shine.pdf
The Motiva Refinery, a Shell joint venture in Port Arthur, Texas, is one of North America’s busiest and most productive oil refineries, currently processing more than 235,000 barrels of oil per day. Shell profits financially from the refinery at the expense of the low-income community that lives in its shadow. Local residents call the area around West Port Arthur “Gasoline Alley” because of the high levels of toxic pollution.
Shell’s assurance to Port Arthur, Texas at the 2003 AGM
Hilton Kelley, Founding Director of Community In-power Development Association (CIDA), a community environmental justice organization in Port Arthur, Texas, USA, travelled to the 2003 Shell AGM in London. At the AGM, Hilton confronted Sir Philip Watts regarding the health-damaging pollution from the Motiva Refinery. Speaking immediately after the AGM, Hilton said, “I am hopeful that something will be done. Sir Philip looked me in the eye and promised. Things have to change. And if they do not, I will be here next year and in coming years.” After returning to Texas, Hilton found that Shell hadn’t changed. (See section entitled Examples of Shell’s documented spills, fires, and toxic releases since the 2003 Shell AGM). A few months later, Hilton and his community decided that they had no option left but to bring legal proceedings against Shell.
Community mobilizes in defense of their health
In December 2003, CIDA opened the Center for Environmental Education and Health. The Center provides information on health and toxic exposure, offers youth activities, and in the future will make computers, faxes, and printers available to the public. CIDA has organized community health surveys conducted by the University of Texas at Galveston Medical Branch, which document that 80% of the surveyed residents in neighbourhoods near the refinery have heart conditions and respiratory problems, compared to 30% of people in non-refinery areas.
Residents hold Shell liable for health-damaging refinery
For many, Texas and oil go together, but for the residents of the West-Side neighbourhoods of Port Arthur, such a mixture is a hazard to their health. As in many of the communities where Shell operates, community members in West-Side believe that their concerns about Shell’s pollution have been ignored. The West-Side of Port Arthur is an African-American community that is literally located “on the other side of the tracks”. People living in the public housing developments and single-family homes on the West-Side suffer from high levels of asthma and cancers. They bear the brunt of Shell’s pollution most directly. Residents believe that Shell has exploited them; if they were white and affluent, they reason, Shell’s response would be different. In the summer of 2003, representatives of CIDA met with Tom Purvis, the manager of the Shell facility. CIDA offered him and executives from Shell’s corporate office in Houston, Texas the opportunity to negotiate steps for addressing the serious environmental and health problems in the community. When the managers refused to enter negotiations, the residents felt compelled to file a lawsuit against Shell.
Ignoring the problem
Shell refuses to address the significant health concerns of Port Arthur’s West-Side residents, all of which are related to refinery pollution. Instead, Shell has funded a health clinic, which is located on the other side of town, and thus inaccessible to most of the residents in the West-Side neighbourhoods.
Legal action against Shell
Over 1,200 Port Arthur pollution victims are alleging air, soil, and other contamination due to the release of
“Noxious fumes, vapors, odors and hazardous substances.” The number of citizens participating in the lawsuit is expected to grow dramatically. The lawsuit seeks medical monitoring and reimbursement of medical expense, as well as compensation for loss of quality of life. The specific legal claims include trespass, nuisance, and negligence, as well as fraud and misrepresentation of the harm caused by the toxic releases.
