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From Femi Folaranmi, Yenagoa
Leading environmentalists in the Niger Delta region have raised alarm over the biosafety of dispersants used by the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency, NOSDRA to mop up oil spills from the Egina Floating Production Storage and Offloading vessel(FPSO) operated by TotalEnergies.
Speaking on Monday in an interview foremost environmentalist , executive director of Health of Mother Earth Foundation( HOMEF), Dr Nnimmo Bassey, lamented that IOCs seem to prefer the ‘remote’ location of offshore oil fields.
According to him offshore oil fields shield them from scrutiny of regulators and communities.
Bassey said it was regrettable that after several decades of polluting their onshore fields the IOCs are going offshore without clean up.
He pointed out that dispersants are known to be toxic to aquatic life that form part of the food chain.
“The use of dispersants is mainly to hide the impact of oil spills from view.
“As the name says, they disperse but do not eliminate or remove the spills. It is known that chemicals remain in the aquatic ecosystem with some staying on the seabed.
“These dispersants have impact on the aquatic species and by extension they also cause injury to human health.
“Considering the lax regulation of the oil field environment this is another example of expanding the sacrifice zone the Niger Delta has been turned into.
“We cannot continue to sacrifice our people and environment on the altar of cash,” Bassey said.
He expressed displeasure that it took TotalEnergies over one week to acknowledge the operational mishap after oil had already leaked into the environment.
Also speaking, Head of Field Operations at Environmental Rights Action (ERA) in Bayelsa, Mr Morris Alagoa, dispersants are not conducive to life.
“The thing is that these chemicals called dispersant used by the oil companies to reduce the quantity of spilled crude oil or sink the crude oil are not properly identified by stakeholders or experts to enable informed conclusions.
“It is one of the ‘smart ways’ deployed by the polluters to be evasive, taking advantage of not having regulators or environmental NGOs within the particular location at the point in time.
“We in ERA have received several such complaints of inappropriate use of dispersants from community folks in Ogboinbiri, Odioama, Ikarama, etc.
“The use of dispersants is not an alternative for cleanup or remediation.
“We have had instances where cleanup contractors apply detergents as dispersants at Okpotuwari and Ikebiri environment in Olodiama Clan of Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa state.
“In most cases, dispersants either cause the crude oil coagulation and sinking or break down the molecules, leaving it still in the environment leading to environmental degradation,” Morris said.
Rev Samuel Ayadi, Niger Delta Coordinator of Artisanal Fishermen Association who also added his voice to the concerns explained that chemical dispersants used to tackle spills are poisonous to fish and wipe out generations of fish species.
“The chemicals they call dispersant is poisonous it not only kills fishes but when the coagulated crude sinks to the seabed where fish breeds, it wipes out the eggs as well and that is like an epidemic.
“The dispersants they used on the spill at Egina will cause until hardship to fishes and fishing activities in the Niger Delta for long time starting with prolonged fish scarcity.
“Any fish that encounters the dispersant is poisoned and contaminated and poses danger to public health.
“The ones that survive will migrate deeper out of Nigerian territorial waters where artisan fishermen cannot reach,” he said.
