South Sudan's oil industry leaves open waste pits and polluted water and soil, according to envrionmental reports that also describe birth defects.
The oil industry in South Sudan has left a landscape pocked with hundreds of open waste pits, the water and soil contaminated with toxic chemicals and heavy metals including mercury, manganese and arsenic, according to four environmental reports obtained by the Associated Press.
The reports, which date as far back as 2013, were presented to the oil companies and South Sudan’s ministry of petroleum but subsequently buried, according to four people with close knowledge of the oil operations and the documents. All spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of their safety. The reports show that the government and the oil companies have been aware for years that contamination from drilling could be causing severe health problems in the local population. But little has been done, local residents say, to clean up the mess. Promises by the government and the oil companies to tackle the pollution have repeatedly been broken, they say.
The junkyard caught fire in May and has yet to be cleaned up, according to a resident who visited in September and spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of their safety. She and a dozen other women were crowded on a tattered L-shaped sofa in a dimly lit shed that serves as a meeting place in Melut. One by one, the women took turns telling their harrowing stories.Six had lost babies in the last 10 years. And all of them knew someone who had given birth to a child with deformities, had struggled to conceive or had miscarriages.
The same containers were strewn about the Dar Petroleum chemical junkyard, with labels saying they contained a chemical demulsifier called Phasetreat, used by the oil company during drilling to separate crude oil from water. “The oil company knew what was going on. There is no way the white containers could have left their yard without the staff in charge knowing. But they’ll never take responsibility for it,” said Ramadan Chan Liol, chairman of the Padang Community Union. The group represents people living around the oil areas in Unity and Upper Nile states and acts as a liaison with the oil company.
Soil and water samples from the area, and biological samples from the soldiers were analyzed at the National Health Laboratory Service in South Africa. They found mercury levels in the water were seven times what is permissible under U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards, and manganese concentrations were 10 times higher than EPA allows, according to a summary of the study obtained by the AP. The chemicals were also found in the soil and in urine samples from some of the soldiers.
Researchers took 146 samples of soil, fluids and unidentifiable chemicals and found “extremely high” levels of hydrocarbons — chemicals such as benzene that make up oil and natural gas and can cause serious health effects. It also documented 650 waste pits filled with water contaminated with arsenic and lead, and millions of liters of water contaminated with drilling chemicals sitting in ponds.
South Sudan has the seventh highest rate of pollution-related deaths in the world, according to the Global Alliance on Health and Pollution, an organization of national environment ministries, international development organizations and NGOs. The letter also notes that before oil production in the region, in 1999, “there were no alarming reports of women giving birth to deformed babies, experiencing premature birth amongst other environmental related diseases.”
South Sudan’s 2012 Petroleum Act says anyone working in the oil industry must comply with best international practices on health and safety. In February, Phillips Anyang Ngong, a human rights lawyer, sued South Sudan’s Ministry of Petroleum, Greater Pioneer Operating Company and Nile Petroleum — the country’s state-owned oil company — claiming the oil pollution caused health problems and loss of life and demanding $500 million for victims. It’s the first human rights lawsuit due to oil pollution filed in the country, he said.
“Polluters try as much as possible not to let connections be drawn from pollution to health issues; they try to connect it to something else, like genetics. This is a known tactic,” said Nnimmo Bassey, executive director for health at the Health of Mother Earth Foundation, a not-for-profit environmental group based in Nigeria.
Geer refused to give up, and in January, Greater Pioneer flew them to Berlin, where the whole family underwent 10 days of tests on their blood and hair and were sent home. The baby received no medical care.
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