A Full tank of risks in Guyana, Normandy, and in the Arctic
Drilling in Guyana- Press release # 2
Shell is leading the dance in Guyana. The offshore is going to be subjected for over a year to the harmful effects and pollutions of 4 exploratory petroleum drillings and experimental pumping. The Guyanese coast and neighboring countries are not immune to drifts of accidental oil spills. The Scientific Committee of the International Whaling Commission has highlighted the diversity of large and small cetaceans off the coast of Guyana in 2011. Manatees, leatherback sea-turtles, and thousands of migrating birds that come from the Caribbean and Brazil to reproduce on the Grand Connétable Islands are threatened by the ultra-deep drilling thanks to the Shell’s supremacy, pressure from the Guyana elect, and the weaknesses of the French governments. The story began in May 2001, with the issuance from a prefect departmental Prefect order granting an exclusive permit for oil exploration also called the Guyana Maritime license. The energy transition made a detour by the prehistoric era and it is well known that the impact on the environment does not address, far from it, all the risks due to noise, light and atmospheric pollution.
Children victims of Industrial Wasteland
On Sunday May 6th, a twelve-year-old child trespassed onto the transformer of the Usmeco plant, at Conches-en-Ouche in the French department Eure (Normandy). This former plant for the surface treatment of metals was the subject of bankruptcy eleven years ago. Despite the interventions from the ADEME (Environmental Agency and Energy Control), there are still dangerous materials inside and heavy metals and cyanides contaminated the soil. The site was not supervised and was not protected against intrusions. According to Robin des Bois, there are strong presumptions that the transformer was contaminated with PCB. If this is the case, it would have had to be eliminated at the latest at the end of year 2010. In any event, it is strange that a transformer inside the closed plant eleven years ago had been under voltage. Other transformers, on the property of Umesco could have been fractured in extracting some copper. The ground belongs to a SCI (real estate company) related to the former directors of Usmesco. The site of Usmesco is registered in the BASOL database that is updated by the Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development, and Energy. The BASOL database lists the sites and polluted grounds calling for a preventive or curative action of public powers.
