Group demands investigation into Bayelsa oil spill

In its field report on the incident released on Monday in Yenagoa, ERA/FoEN said the JIV did not document all the impacted sites around the facility, and demanded a fresh Joint Investigative Visit.
The report, signed by Mr Alagoa Morris, ERA/FoEN’s Head of Field Operation in Bayelsa, said several plantains and banana plantations, fishponds and farmlands damaged by the spill were not captured in the JIV report.
The report further said: “There is the urgent need for all stakeholders to return to the impacted environment to reappraise and re-document the JIV report; especially as it relates to volume of spilt crude, spread and impacts.
“ERA is calling for a fresh JIV. The regulatory agencies, especially the Bayelsa State Ministry of Environment, should take all necessary steps to reinvestigate this matter which is of common communal interest.
“In line with the polluter pays principle, Shell should be prepared to compensate victims of this major spill. The time oil companies hide under the sabotage clause to escape liability should be over.
“This should be legally challenged as Shell ought to have a CCTV within the manifold environment to monitor movements around the facility,” the report said.
However, a statement from SPDC’s spokesman, Joseph Obari, stated that the spill was caused by sabotage.
“The investigation team, which visited the site on April 16, found that unknown persons had cut out a section of the metal protection to the manifold, removed components of the pressure control system and opened the isolation valves.
“It resulted to a spill. The volume of spilled oil was estimated at 27 barrels, affecting mainly the manifold grounds and part of the surrounding vegetation,” the statement read in part.
In his reaction, Mr Iniruo Wills, Bayelsa Commissioner for Environment said that the state government would verify the reported exclusion of impacted sites.