The members of the United States Alumni Engagement Innovation Fund Project on Kenaf Clean-up hereby express our regret and concern about the massive oil spillage in the Bonga Field on Tuesday, 20th December, 2011.
While the federal government of Nigeria is planning to conduct a detailed investigation to ascertain the extent and cause of the incident (system or human error), Royal Dutch Shell says the spill has been halted and clean-up is expected to be completed within six weeks.
While still uncertain about the details, it has been estimated that about 40,000 barrels of crude oil has been lost spanning about 120 kilometres off the southern coast of Nigeria.
The National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), said the leakage could be three times as large as Shell contends and that this could be the country’s worst case of oil pollution in 10 years.
However, the size of the spill may be even larger. SkyTruth, a nonprofit group based in West Virginia that uses satellite imagery to detect environmental problems, estimated the oil spill might stretch across roughly 350 square miles (920 square kilometers) of ocean — three times what Nigerian authorities believe.
It has also come to our notice that dispersants are being used for the clean-up. We wish to condemn this method in its entirety for the following reasons:
1. Dispersants are a group of chemicals designed to be sprayed onto oil slicks to accelerate the process of natural dispersion. Their use is intended to minimise the damage caused by floating oil, but, as with most available spill response options, the use of dispersants has limitations and should be carefully planned and controlled.
Our questions then are: (i) who approved the dispersants being used? (approval and authorization must be given by the responsible government agency before any dispersant is used); (ii) was there a thorough monitoring and assessment plan for the application of the dispersant(s) being used?
2. Dispersants dissipate large amounts of oil from the sea surface by transferring it into the water column. They will cause the oil slick to break up and form water-soluble micelles that are rapidly diluted. The oil is then effectively spread throughout a larger volume of water than the surface from where the oil was dispersed. They can also delay the formation of persistent oil-in-water emulsions. However, laboratory experiments have shown that dispersants increased toxic hydrocarbon levels in fish by a factor of up to 100 and may kill fish eggs
3. In the United States, dispersants are used underwater only with continuous and rigorous monitoring of its effectiveness and impact on the environment and the government reserves the right to discontinue the use of a dispersant method if negative impacts on the environment outweigh the benefits. Please recall that a dispersant was used in an attempt to clean up the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989 and the use was discontinued as there was not enough wave action to mix the dispersant with the oil in the water. Who is monitoring to ensure this in the Bonga oil spill and how?
4. To date, the use of subsurface dispersants has not been approved in the U.S.A. and we condemn the use of dispersants in the Bonga oil spill because this is being carried out without following safe and due procedures
Within the last decade, chemical procedures for oil spill clean-up have been replaced by biological control (bio-control) methods which have been described as safe and environmentally friendly.
One of such bio-control agents is the Kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus) plant.
Kenaf fibre is non-toxic, non-abrasive and is more effective than classical remediants, like clay and silica.
Our project, sponsored by the alumni office of the U. S. Department of State is aimed at using local plants like Kenaf for oil spill clean-up in Nigeria’s Niger Delta through a participatory and community-integrated strategy that we believe is sustainable.
We are worried that this spillage which has been likened to that of the BP in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, is being treated with ''kid gloves''. There is evidence that the Bonga Oil Field tragedy is spreading to all parts of the Niger Delta and outside our country with indications that Brazil could be vulnerable. While Shell states that the spill has been contained, Friends of the Earth and Environmental Rights Action who are on ground at the site have reported that communities in Odioama located in the Niger Delta have seen some unsuspected slicks.
This spillage at Shell's Bonga FPSO is feared to be moving fast towards the shores putting birds, vegetation, other marine resources and vessel navigation at risk. We therefore advise that representatives from the affected communities be invited by the responsible Federal Government agency like NOSDRA to certify an oil spillage as been completely contained as Shell claims.
Signed:
Dr. Moji Edema Dr. Morufat Balogun
Chairperson, Publicity Committee Project Team Leader
