Shell, villagers agree to $83.5 million for huge oil spill
▻http://bigstory.ap.org/article/aaed3128c6374c268bd0129ac2fa7cb1/shell-villagers-agree-835-million-huge-oil-spill
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Oil giant Shell has agreed to pay a Nigerian fishing community 55 million pounds (about $83.5 million) for the worst oil spill ever suffered in Nigeria.
Wednesday’s agreement ends a three-year legal battle in Britain over two spills in 2008 that destroyed thousands of hectares (acres) of mangroves and the fish and shellfish that sustained villagers of the Bodo community in Nigeria’s southern Niger Delta.
It “is thought to be one of the largest payouts to an entire community following environmental damage,” the claimants’ London lawyers, Leigh Day, said.
Shell said it is paying 35 million pounds ($53.1 million) to 15,600 fishermen and farmers and 20 million pounds ($30.4 million) to their Bodo community.
“We’ve always wanted to compensate the community fairly,” said Mutiu Sunmonu, managing director of Shell Nigeria, which is 55 percent owned by the Nigerian government.
#nigeria #énergie #pollution #shell signalé par Pierre Ageron sur twitter
