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Shell in Court Over Nigeria Pollution Charges
LONDON — The international oil and gas company Royal Dutch Shell was in court Thursday facing charges of polluting Nigerian villages. The case has been brought in a civil court in The Hague by four Nigerian farmers and the environmental campaigners Friends of the Earth.
The farmers are from the Ogoniland region of southern Nigeria and say they can no longer work or feed their families because oil spills in the area have damaged crops and fish farms.
"Communities in Ogoniland had been badly contaminated," said Eric Dooh, one of the Nigerian plaintiffs. "Some communities are deserted1, like my community, Goi, in Ogoniland, has been deserted as a result of devastation2 of the ecosystem3 and our environment. My father had four big fish farms."
Ogoniland in the Niger Delta4 has been a major source of crude oil for decades and Shell is the top multinational5 operating in the area.
The plaintiffs say the oil operations have resulted in major pollution that has devastated6 vegetation, water supplies and fishing ponds.
They want Shell to clean up the pollution and ensure pipelines7 are maintained and kept secure to prevent future leaks.
But Shell says it has done what it can to contain the impact of its operations. Spills, it says, are largely the result of sabotage8 by armed gangs who hack9 into pipelines.
"We went in, we stopped the leak, we cleaned it," said Allard Castelein, vice10 president for environment at Shell. "There is a process that involves a joint11 investigation12, of government officials, community officials and company officials, they jointly13 signed off on the fact that it was caused by sabotage."
Last year the United Nations published a report that blamed multinational oil companies - and especially Shell - along with the Nigerian government for devastating14 environmental impacts in the Niger Delta.
The report said cleaning up the area would cost $1 billion and take 25 years.
The environmental group Friends of the Earth says it hopes the court case in The Hague will mark a precedent15.
"What we expect today is that outcome of this case will be that Shell is convicted for polluting the environment, for not properly maintaining its pipelines in Nigeria and for harming millions of people, polluting their drinking water, depleting16 their fish stocks, ruining their crop lands as a result of oil pollution," said Gerrit Ritsema, a coordinator17 at Friends of the Earth.
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1 deserted | |
adj.荒芜的,荒废的,无人的,被遗弃的 | |
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2 devastation | |
n.毁坏;荒废;极度震惊或悲伤 | |
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3 ecosystem | |
n.生态系统 | |
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4 delta | |
n.(流的)角洲 | |
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5 multinational | |
adj.多国的,多种国籍的;n.多国籍公司,跨国公司 | |
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6 devastated | |
v.彻底破坏( devastate的过去式和过去分词);摧毁;毁灭;在感情上(精神上、财务上等)压垮adj.毁坏的;极为震惊的 | |
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7 pipelines | |
管道( pipeline的名词复数 ); 输油管道; 在考虑(或规划、准备) 中; 在酿中 | |
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8 sabotage | |
n.怠工,破坏活动,破坏;v.从事破坏活动,妨害,破坏 | |
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9 hack | |
n.劈,砍,出租马车;v.劈,砍,干咳 | |
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10 vice | |
n.坏事;恶习;[pl.]台钳,老虎钳;adj.副的 | |
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11 joint | |
adj.联合的,共同的;n.关节,接合处;v.连接,贴合 | |
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12 investigation | |
n.调查,调查研究 | |
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13 jointly | |
ad.联合地,共同地 | |
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14 devastating | |
adj.毁灭性的,令人震惊的,强有力的 | |
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15 precedent | |
n.先例,前例;惯例;adj.在前的,在先的 | |
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16 depleting | |
使大大的减少,使空虚( deplete的现在分词 ); 耗尽,使枯竭 | |
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17 coordinator | |
n.协调人 | |
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18 petroleum | |
n.原油,石油 | |
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