Arctic Drilling: Key decisions due at end of March for Shell

Arctic Drilling: Key decisions due at end of March for Shell

Mar 20th, 2015 

by John Donovan. 

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ARTICLE BY TIM BRADNER OF ALASKA JOURNAL OF COMMERCE, PUBLISHED 19 MARCH 2015

Key decisions due at end of March for Shell

Extracts

A key federal decision is shaping up for Shell at the end of this month.

The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, or BOEM, expects to issue a final decision by March 31 on a revised environmental impact statement of the Chukchi Sea 2008 Outer Continental Shelf lease sale that has been contested in court by environmental groups, the director of the agency said March 13.

Abigail Hopper, director of the BOEM, said a Record of Decision on a revised supplemental environmental impact statement, or SEIS, is to be issued.

That will enable the agency to begin its formal review of a plan submitted by Shell for 2015 summer exploration in the Chukchi Sea, she said.

Although a decision in late March puts Shell on a tight timetable, the company hopes to get its drill fleet to the Arctic in time for the open-water drill season.

One of the most important “lessons learned” from Shell’s 2012 experience was that Shell had no integrated plan, he said.

A post-season review by the U.S. Department of the Interior on Shell’s 2012 drilling season, “showed that not all elements of the operations were synchronized. The need for better coordination, such as between the company and contractors, was one of the lessons learned in 2012,” Salerno said.

That may have contributed to management decisions leading to the loss of the Kulluk drill ship when it lost its tow and ran aground off Kodiak Island in a Gulf of Alaska storm in late 2012, he said.

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Posted in: Alaska, Arctic, Beaufort Sea, Chukchi Sea, Oil, Oil Spill, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Shell, United States.
Tagged: Alaska · Arctic Ocean · Beaufort Sea · Chukchi Sea · Oil · Royal Dutch Shell Plc

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10 Reasons Homeless People Sleep Out in the Cold – and Die

10 Reasons Homeless People Sleep Out in the Cold – and Die

• by Piper Hoffman
• March 19, 2015
• 5:30 pm

• SHARED FROM

• Editor’s note: This post is a Care2 favorite. It was originally published on December 12, 2012.
• 
  

You can’t miss them when you walk around a city: shapeless masses pressed up against buildings or into corners. Homeless people sleeping outside, even now when the temperature is cold and dropping. The lucky ones preserve their body heat under a pile of blankets; others make do with cardboard boxes or layers of clothes.

Some die. About 700 a year in the United States. The solution seems obvious: their lives would be saved if they slept in the warmth of a homeless shelter. But there aren’t enough shelter beds to go around, and some of the beds that do exist come with very unappealing strings attached:

1. The “#1 Reason Homeless People Don’t Use Shelters [is the] Lack of Available Beds,” writes formerly homeless Kylyssa Shay. Shelters are over-crowded in many, if not most, cities. People must line up hours before the facility opens to secure a bed for the night, and go through the same process the next day and the next.

2. Those who hold jobs (and many homeless people do) can’t always be in line at 4:30 in the afternoon, so they cannot get a shelter bed. Those who choose to stand in line may give up on finding employment because of the schedule.

3. As if homelessness didn’t cause enough physical discomfort (hunger, untreated pain from medical conditions, often being dirty, carrying all of one’s belongings), shelters often add a couple, like bed bugs and body lice, which are inevitable when a different homeless person sleeps in a bed each night. Contagious diseases are also common among a population that lacks access to nutritious food and adequate medical care. Shelters don’t have the means to quarantine the ill from the general population, making a night in a shelter a health risk. Hepatitis and tuberculosis are particularly common.

4. Straddling the line between uncomfortable and life-threatening is the lack of shoes that fit. Shoe theft is a common problem for the homeless, and is particularly common in shelters. (Theft generally is not unusual.) Not having shoes, or having only shoes that don’t fit well, can cause wounds that make it challenging or impossible to walk, and there are precious few places in a city where a homeless person can recuperate for a while without having to move along.

5. A dog or cat is often a homeless person’s best friend and only family. For young women on the street alone, a dog can also provide indispensable protection. But shelters for homeless people rarely accept their companion animals. Many people prefer sleeping outdoors to giving up their beloved friends.

6. Some shelters close their doors to people who are under the influence of alcohol or illegal substances. This is an understandable rule that not surprisingly leaves some people who need shelter out on the street.

7. Nevertheless, some shelters are known as operation centers for drug dealers and are therefore considered dangerous. Some homeless people prefer their chances outside.

8. There are few family shelters that accept single fathers with children. Sometimes the solution is for the children to spend the night in the shelter while dad sleeps outside.

9. Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people often face discrimination and “physical risk” in homeless shelters. For instance, transgender “women (born with male genitalia but identify and live as women) forced to take shelter with heterosexual men are frequently subjected to verbal, physical, and sexual abuse.” Some shelters simply deny entry to transgender people.

10. Some faith-based homeless shelters require guests to sit through sermons and even personal appeals to convert to their hosts’ religion. Enduring these sometimes derogatory, sometimes coercive tactics day after day is too much for some, especially people with strong religious convictions of their own.

You can do something to help end homelessness. The National Coalition for the Homeless recommends, “Get connected to a coalition. Volunteer at your local, state, or national housing or homeless advocacy coalition, or make a financial contribution to support their work. For the name of the coalition nearest you, see NCH’s Directory of National Housing and Homeless Organizations.”

Related Stories:

Homeless LGBT Youth: A Day In Our Shoes (Video)

NY Gov.’s Budget Cuts Will Hit Homeless and Disabled Youth

Diocese Puts Religious Dogma Before Helping the Homeless

Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/10-reasons-homeless-people-sleep-out-in-the-cold-and-die.html#ixzz3UwQ2cEPO




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Shell, Eni Making No Progress on Nigeria Oil Spills: Amnesty

Shell, Eni Making No Progress on Nigeria Oil Spills: Amnesty

Mar 19th, 2015 

by John Donovan. 

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(Bloomberg) — Royal Dutch Shell Plc is making no progress curbing oil spills in Nigeria and Eni SpA’s operations in the West African country are out of control, according to Amnesty International.

The two companies reported more than 550 spills in the southern oil-rich Niger River delta last year, compared with an average of 10 spills a year in Europe between 1971 and 2011, said Amnesty.

“These figures are seriously alarming,” Audrey Gaughran, Amnesty’s global issues director, said in a statement on Thursday. “In any other country, this would be a national emergency. In Nigeria it appears to be standard operating procedure for the oil industry.”

Nigeria produces about 2 million barrels of oil a day, more than any other African country. Spills are blamed for damaging the environment and fishing villages in the delta. Oil companies often blame sabotage and theft, a claim which local people contest.

The Italian government should investigate Eni for negligence in Nigeria, where it reported 349 spills in 2014 and 500 the year before, according to Amnesty.

Shell, the biggest oil producer in Nigeria, reported 204 spills last year, Amnesty said. The Hague-based company agreed to pay £55 million ($81 million) to the Bodo community in January for two spills in 2008 after a three-year tussle with 15,600 Nigerians, mostly fishermen, in a London court.

Precious Okolobo, a Lagos-based spokesman for Shell, and Filippo Cotalini, a Milan-based spokesman for Eni, didn’t immediately respond to e-mailed requests for comment.

ENDS

Article by Paul Wallace: 12:01 AM GMT March 19, 2015

To contact the reporter on this story: Paul Wallace in Lagos atpwallace25@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Vernon Wessels atvwessels@bloomberg.net Chris Kay, Karl Maier

SOURCE

19 March 2015

Royal Dutch Shell and the Italian multinational oil giant ENI have admitted to more than 550 oil spills in the Niger Delta last year, according to an Amnesty International analysis of the companies’ latest figures. By contrast, on average, there were only 10 spills a year across the whole of Europe between 1971 and 2011.

Shell reported 204 Niger Delta spills in 2014 while ENI, which operates in a smaller area, reported a staggering 349 spills.

“These figures are seriously alarming. ENI has clearly lost control over its operations in the Niger Delta. And despite all its promises, Shell has made no progress on tackling oil spills,” said Audrey Gaughran, Amnesty International’s Global Issues Director.

“In any other country, this would be a national emergency. In Nigeria it appears to be standard operating procedure for the oil industry. The human cost is horrific – people living with pollution every day of their lives.”

The companies say that these spills resulted in only 30,000 barrels – or 5 million litres – of oil spilt. However, given the very poor reporting systems used by oil companies this figure is highly likely to be a significant underestimate.

Royal Dutch Shell

The oil companies blame sabotage and theft for the vast majority of the spills. This claim is hotly contested by communities and NGOs and has been shown to be wrong.

In November 2014, during a legal action in the UK, Shell was forced to admit that it had underestimated the size of the two major Niger Delta oil spills, after years of denials.

The volume of oil spilt matters because the amount of compensation paid to affected communities is linked to the amount of oil that is estimated to have been spilt. Shell finally agreed to pay £55 million to the Bodo community in the Niger Delta after originally offering to give them a paltry £4,000.

“When a company has to pay £55 million for two oil spills it originally tried to pass off as minor, it should raise serious questions for investors about the hidden liabilities Shell may be carrying in the Niger Delta”, said Audrey Gaughran.

“If all oil spills could be scrutinised the way the two Bodo spills were then the true scale of the damage and Shell’s financial liabilities would be revealed. But this is not only about liabilities – there is a very serious human issue. Shell is cheating people out of just compensation. The Bodo case makes clear just what it takes to get this company to own up to the truth about oil spills – six years and UK court proceedings. What about all the hundreds of other communities this company has potentially cheated?”

Documents released as part of the UK legal action revealed that the company knew for years that one of its main pipelines was old and hazardous, but had failed to maintain it properly.

Additionally, a UK court ruling found that Shell has a responsibility to ensure the integrity of its pipelines.

ENI

Italian oil giant ENI, which owns the Nigerian Agip Oil Company is a smaller player in the Niger Delta than Shell and has received less attention. But the number of oil spills from its operations requires urgent action by both the Nigerian and Italian governments.

On top of the 349 spills in 2014, ENI reported more than 500 oil spills in 2013. The Nigerian regulator reported 474 oil spills from ENI operations in 2012.

“The Italian government must investigate what is happening in ENI’s Nigerian operations. These figures raises serious questions about potential negligence by the company going back many years,” said Audrey Gaughran.

“As a matter of priority all oil firms in Nigeria must urgently disclose the age and condition of their infrastructure, carry out reviews of their operating practices, and make the findings public so that communities know what is going on.”

Whatever the cause, according to Nigerian law, the oil companies are responsible for containing and cleaning up spills, and returning affected areas to their prior state. However, this rarely happens. As a result people in the Niger Delta are living with the cumulative impact of decades of pollution.

SOURCE

RELATED

No project will be abandoned in Nigeria, Shell says:

Naija247news.com: 19 March 2015

The Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) says it is determined to complete its projects in Nigeria without fear of abandonment, in spite of challenges in its operations.

The Managing Director, SPDC and Country Chair, Shell Companies in Nigeria, Mr Osagie Okunbor, said this on Wednesday at a panel session of oil majors at the 15th Nigeria Oil and Gas Forum in Abuja.

The company had in January announced that it would cut global investment spending by 15 billion dollars over the next three years following the collapse in oil prices, causing fears about its projects in Nigeria.

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Posted in: Africa, Bloomberg, Eni, Environment, Nigeria, Oil, Oil Spill, Pollution, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Shell.
Tagged: Niger Delta · Nigeria · Oil · Royal Dutch Shell Plc · Shell

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Non-U.S. Shales Prove Difficult to Crack

Non-U.S. Shales Prove Difficult to Crack

Mar 19th, 2015 

by John Donovan. 

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By JUSTIN SCHECK andSELINA WILLIAMS: WALL STREET JOURNAL

March 18, 2015 11:20 p.m. ET

Exxon, Shell and others are pulling back from once-promising shale finds in Europe, Asia

After spending more than five years and billions of dollars trying to re-create the U.S. shale boom overseas, some of the world’s biggest oil companies are starting to give up amid a world-wide collapse in crude prices.

Chevron Corp. , Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell PLC have packed up nearly all of their hydraulic fracturing wildcatting in Europe, Russia and China. 

“The pace of development outside North America is slower everywhere than people thought it would be,” Simon Henry, Shell’s chief financial officer, said in a recent interview.

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Posted in: Chevron, China, Environment, Exxon Mobil, Fracking, Oil, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Russia, Shale Gas, Shale Oil.
Tagged: Chevron · ExxonMobil · Royal Dutch Shell Plc · Russia

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SHARK POACHING BOAT SUNK

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SHARK POACHING BOAT SUNK

Nearly one year after the Indonesian government created the world's largest manta ray sanctuary, one Vietnamese fishing vessel learned that Indonesia is taking enforcement of the protected waters seriously. Very seriously. Last month, off the waters of Raja Ampat, local police arrested the crew members and sank the ship, which had over two tons of drying shark fins, strips of flesh from at least five manta rays and nearly 50 hawksbill sea turtles on board — a clear warning to illegal fishing vessels and poachers pursuing the region's rebounding fish populations. This is great news for Indonesia's long-suffering sharks and rays and highlights just how quickly a seemingly unmanageable environmental problem can be addressed with political will and the support of passionately committed conservation organizations like Conservation International. And there's more good news: The ship was sunk in a strategic location to create a new dive site attraction.

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GAS SAVING TIP FROM TING GOL TOK VIDEOS

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