Shell Spill 60 Times Bigger than Initially Reported

During our own fun oil spill, not enough of a point was made that while this was fucking terrible, this is something oil companies have been getting away with all around the world with pretty much no media attention. Part of the "getting away with it" is usually making up numbers to make the spill seem less significant.

That was the case here, although it took about a month for video to get released and for non hacks to produce real estimates of what we were doing to the gulf. Shell's spill in Nigeria received almost no media coverage, and people are just now piecing together the scope of this atrocity. Firedoglake:

The two NGOs unveiled documents pertaining to the Royal Dutch Shell Oil 2008 Bodo oil pipeline spill that showed that 60 times the amount of oil Shell had originally reported spilling have actually spilled in the ravaged Niger Delta coastal townwith a population of 60,000 people.

In a press release, Amnesty explained its findings:

The previously unpublished assessment, carried out by US firm Accufacts, found that between 1,440 and 4,320 barrels of oil were flooding the Bodo area each day following the leak. The Nigerian regulators have confirmed that the spill lasted for 72 days.

Shell’s official investigation report claims only 1,640 barrels of oil were spilt in total. But based on the independent assessment the total amount of oil spilt over the 72 day period is between 103,000 barrels and 311,000 barrels.

Adding insult to injury, Shell has yet to do a damn thing about it. “More than three years after the Bodo oil spill, Shell has yet to conduct a proper clean up or to pay any official compensation to the affected communities,” wrote Amnesty.

It may sound bad, but I'm pretty sure this isn't a problem that more drilling can't solve!