United Kingdom: a lone fighter against Shell

Apr 21st, 2012

by John Donovan.

ARD TV in Germany – the German equivalent of BBC TV – on Saturday, 21 April, broadcast a feature about me and this website (royaldutchshellplc.com) as part of the EUROPA MAGAZINE programme.

By John Donovan

ARD TV in Germany – the German equivalent of BBC TV – on Saturday, 21 April, broadcast a feature about me and this website (royaldutchshellplc.com) as part of the EUROPA MAGAZINE programme.

LINK TO VIEW FILM SEGMENT

Click here to read a translation of the narration.

During the film, *Oleg Mitvol, the Russian Environmental Minister in 2006, confirmed what he has said before on the subject  of Sakhalin II i.e. that he got the evidence from me (Donovan) that cost Shell its majority stake in the project (and many billions of dollars).

"Yes, Mr. Donovan's documents really helped us," Russia's former deputy environmental minister confirms. "His evidence proved without a doubt that documents had been forged and that problems had deliberately been kept secret."

President Putin and retired Royal Dutch Shell Executive, Paddy Briggs, also appear in the film.

Mr Briggs said:

When you have that amount of power you need to be held accountable. My view is that the democratic system doesn't always hold multinationals like Shell to account as much as they should. So there's a gap… And into that gap people like John Donovan will come.

I understand that for some unknown reason, Shell management declined to make any comment about me or this website. They seem to be peeved about something?

*Oleg Mitvol is currently the leader of the Green Alliance Party in Russia said to be the country's first real green party.

Non-professional translation of  related ARD webpage.

EUROPA MAGAZINE

Broadcast of 21 April 2012, 16.30

United Kingdom: a lone fighter against Shell

Until 20 years ago, John Donovan was a business partner of the Shell Group.

The Briton ran an Advertising business with his father designing promotions for Shell customers.

The small company ceased trading after a trial alleging that a Shell employee stole ideas and Donovan then became one of the biggest critics of the Anglo-Dutch group.

For over 10 years the early retiree from Colchester has operated a website that reports on abuses and exposes contradictions between corporate pledges and corporate actions. He has published tens of thousands of articles  there, partly with the help of senior Shell insiders.

And his campaign against the multinational, especially violations against the environment, have had significant consequences.

For example, Shell had operating losses of several billion euros after he notified the Russian government about the lax safety precautions in the Sakhalin-2 consortium involving Shell and Gazprom. Shell lost its majority stake after intervention by a Russian court.

External Links:

Homepage of John Donovan

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SOURCE

RELATED

Kremlin attack dog vows to take on Shell in the battle … – The Guardian

4 Oct 2006 – On one side was Oleg Mitvol, 6ft 2in and dressed in a black coat, the Kremlin's attack dog leading the charge against the vast Sakhalin-2 oil …

Gorbachev Plans to Revive Social-Democratic Party: 21 March 2012

Extract: The former head of Russia's environmental regulator Rosprirodnadzor, Oleg Mitvol, known for high-profile campaigns against oil companies, announced on Wednesday his plans to establish a new party, tentatively dubbed "Alliance of Green – people party.

SOME FURTHER SCREENSHOTS

John Donovan of Royal Dutch Shell Plc .com

Posted in: Business Principles, Corporate Governance, Don Marketing, GoogleNews,John Donovan, Litigation, Outspoken Articles, Paddy Briggs, Royal Dutch Shell Plc,Sakhalin II, Shell.
Tagged: John Donovan · Oleg Mitvol · President Putin · Royal Dutch Shell Plc · Russia ·Sakhalin II

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What Is It Going to Take to Stop Shell's Arctic Drilling?

Apr 19th, 2012

by John Donovan.

Posted 04/20/2012

I've got one question for President Obama: What is it going to take for you to put a stop to Shell's plans for Arctic Ocean drilling this summer? The reasons not to drill just keep mounting — and the reasons to drill? Well, there seems to be just one, and I can't say it in politically correct company. I can give you a hint: Republican rhetoric and the 2012 presidential election.

Just yesterday, the National Oil Spill Commission that you appointed after the Deepwater Horizon disaster came out with areport card that noted that in the Arctic, there remain "many unanswered questions and much work to be done." Specifically, this group of esteemed experts raised concerns about the fact that there remains no proven method to clean up an oil spill in the Arctic's extreme conditions.

Specifically, the report card notes that Shell has yet to successfully test the techniques they propose to use for Arctic oilspill containment "in the extreme weather conditions that are often present in Arctic waters." What's more, these techniques have not been "evaluated in any significant way by government entities." The commission went on to point out that "the Coast Guard has made it clear in congressional testimony that they are not yet prepared to deal with a serious drilling incident in the Arctic."

These words alone should give you pause. However, there's much more.

Congress' investigative body, the General Accountability Office (GAO), came out with its own report at the end of last month on Shell's subsea containment capabilities. This report questions what Shell plans to do if there's a blowout in the Arctic — similar to the one in the Gulf of Mexico that killed 11 men and caused 205.8 million gallons of oil to spill and months to contain. Their findings, like the National Oil Spill Commission report card, were skeptical.

"Even with Shell's plans to have dedicated capping stack and well containment capabilities in the region to provide rapid response in the event of a blowout, these dedicated capabilities do not completely mitigate some of the environmental and logistical risks associated with the remoteness and environment of the region," the report reads.

On the heels of that report, analysts at one of the world's largestinsurance markets issued a stunning warning that offshore drillingin the Arctic would "constitute a unique and hard-to-manage risk" and urged companies to "think carefully about the consequences of action." The Lloyds of London report cautions that "environmental consequences of disasters in the Arctic have the potential to be worse than in other regions. The resilience of the Arctic's ecosystems in terms of withstanding risk events is weak, and political sensitivity to a disaster is high. As a result, companies operating in the Arctic face significant reputational risk."

Even if you put aside all the warnings and skepticism from people who make it their job to know about these things, there are still the voices of those who stand to lose the most. Their words are the ones that speak to your heart.

Caroline Cannon, an Inupiat tribal leader who has spent her life in recent years going back and forth between her home on the Arctic coast and Washington, D.C. to ensure that her people and her way of life are not forgotten, was recognized this week with the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize. Caroline and her community of 700 people in Point Hope, Alaska, have thrived for thousands of years off the bounty of the Arctic Ocean. When Caroline comes to Washington, she gives voice to her community, others on the Arctic coast, as well as the generations that came before and the generations still to come. For all of them, Shell's plans threaten who they are and who they will be.

I will never forget the day that the mother of nine and grandmother of 26 called me sobbing, asking me how our president could have made yet another decision to allow Shell to move forward with its plans. I didn't know how to answer her, except to say that we will keep fighting.

"Shell's proposed drilling would affect not simply our ability to feed ourselves and others in the community, or the cultural traditions around our subsistence activities, or just our enjoyment of those activities, but they would affect the very foundations of who we are as individuals and as a people," Caroline said. "We have a right to life, to physical integrity, to security, and the right to enjoy the benefits of our culture. For this, we will fight."

Surely, President Obama, you can't turn your back on the voices of these proud Inupiats and proud Americans.

We only have one Arctic. It not only gives life to myriad beloved species of wildlife — from polar bears and bowhead whales, to ice seals and walrus — but it also acts as our planet's air conditioner. I implore you not to play political roulette with a place that is such a vital piece of our planet's future. There is still time to stop this disaster before it happens. Tell Shell to turn its ships around.

SOURCE

Posted in: Alaska, Arctic, Business Principles, Environment, Green, Oil Spill, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, United States.
Tagged: Alaska · Arctic Ocean · Beaufort Sea · Chukchi Sea · HuffingtonPost.com ·President Obama · Royal Dutch Shell Plc

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