Open letter to Mel Gibson
Dear Mel Gibson,
In the Lloyd’s List of September 12th 2007 in the article “From carbon footprints to CO2 ship blueprints” we read that you openly show your support to a project to design vessels twice the size of a normal capesize bulker to transport carbon dioxide (CO2). “BW Shipping boss Andreas Sohmen-Pao reveals green ambitions and has ally in actor Mel Gibson”. This would be done with the intention to use the CO2 “to make oil and gas fields more productive” i.e. Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR). More than 40 Mt of CO2 are currently used each year in the United States to recover oil. Most of the CO2 comes from deep natural accumulations of CO2 while about 5 % comes from industrial sources. Some of the CO2 used in EOR today is stocked in the well from where it escapes in the mid term, with the exception of the Weyburn oil field pilot project in Canada where the CO2 is recaptured and re-injected for permanent sequestration.
Robin des Bois a French NGO has been fighting for the protection of Man and the Environment since 1985. Robin des Bois has for over 20 years been involved, in the banning of waste storing and waste dumping in or under the world’s oceans. We have very strong reservations on the concepts and projects exposed at the Forbes Global CEO Conference in Singapore by Mr Sohmen-Pao. More generally we have serious doubts on currently exposed Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technological solutions.
Wastes returning to Europe
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| In the aftermath of the spread of toxic wastes in the economic capital of the Ivory Coast, Robin des Bois demanded their repatriation and treatment in Europe. Robin des Bois’s reaction was founded on the sanitary problems, mortality, panic, and rumors that, beginning on August 20, 2006, struck and distraught the populations. The insufficiency of available technical resources in the area and the goal expressed by Ivory Coast authorities to construct a waste bunker served to support the conviction that is was vital to clear Ivorian soil of the wastes discharged from the Probo Koala as quickly as possible.
Today, the MN Toucan, the first ship bringing back the wastes and the sediments with which they have been mixed and diluted, is arriving in the Norman port of Le Havre. Particular care was given to the choice of ship; it was without question that it register under the flag of convenience. The same demand will be made for following ships. Robin des Bois will now strive, in liaison with services of the State, the Ministry of Ecology, and other associations, to facilitate the fluidity and precision of transit and elimination phases of the 6,000 tons of material cleaned in Abidjan. It will be particularly seen to that the transportation between Le Havre and the south of Lyon is made regularly and by means of railway transport. In view of the fact that the dominant nature of the material to be treated results from its sulfur content, Robin des Bois wishes in addition that measurements of sulfur compounds released from Salaise’s furnace smokestacks will be made available to any associations that wish it, during the elimination phases. Finally, Robin des Bois notes that no other country member of the European Union has as yet mentioned the possibility of storing and treating these wastes, not even the Netherlands and Estonia who are even involved in responsibility, as possibly the United Kingdom, Spain, and Greece. |
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Business Continues for the Probo Koala
You have been well-informed of it (see invitation for press conference held September 25, 2006 in Abidjan): the Probo Koala was sold by the Greek ship owner Prime Marine Management at the same time as other OBO carriers (transporters of mineral compounds, bulk, petroleum).
The sales contract of 6 OBO was assessed at 136 million US$. It is deplorable that the profit from the sale of the Probo Koala will not be given to the Côte d’Ivoire for the purpose of partially contributing to reparations for damages inflicted on the Abidjan population and to costs of cleaning waste dumped at dozens of sites around and within the heart of the city of the Côte d’Ivoire. Sold along with the Probo Koala were the Probo Bear, Probo Elk, Probo Emu, and Probo Panda (which has nothing to do with the WWF) sailing under the Marshall Islands flag, while the Probo Koala sails under Panamanian flag.
Ivory Coast Waste: Return to Sender
Subject : Ivory Coast/Toxic wastes
The toxic wastes spread on the Ivory Coast August 19-20, 2006 are in the course of recovery, packaging, and gathering, as observed by Robin des Bois in Abidjan. Given that these wastes were dumped over one month ago, the dredging of deposits will generate a final quantity greater than the initial quantity, approximately 500 tons. It is essential, in order to allay the inquietude of the Abidjan populations, that the collection of waste leave the Ivory Coast and return to their point of departure, namely Europe (see press release “Call for a waste charter” from September 12, 2006). There is neither in the Netherlands nor in Estonia a facility capable of thermal treatment elimination of these wastes, declared as ship-generated wastes which should have been discharged in ports of Amsterdam or Paldiski. These facilities are available in various European countries such as Finland, Germany, Belgium, and France. Whatever treatment site or sites are chosen after confirmation of different conflicting analyses, a public information session must be organized to avoid the phenomenon of rejection that was seen in 1988 when waste fraudulently stored in Nigeria were returned to Europe aboard the Karin B (see Robin des Bois’s press dossier from the Abidjan conference, “The first wave and the ebbtide” or the article about the Karin B in la Flèche et le Marin).
