The Probo Koala: Toxic crime scene. Who is responsible for this disaster?
Before the Abidjan dumping
The story of the Trafigura scandal starts with a chemical
process known as caustic washing. It consists of mixing low quality
crude oil with sodium hydroxide (also known as caustic soda) to
purify the oil. This leaves an extremely toxic byproduct - so toxic
that this process is actually banned in several countries because
it's so hard to deal with it. It is a lot more expensive to purify
oil through "normal" refining processes.
Trafigura used this process on board the ship Probo Koala on oil
they bought from a Mexican company, Pemex International. Instead of
refining the oil normally, Trafigura figured it could make a major
profit by using caustic washing. Trafigura's own emails say "This
operation is no longer allowed in the European Union, the United
States and Singapore" it is "banned in most countries due to the
"hazardous nature of the waste". The problem appeared when the
company started to realise it was difficult to deal with the left
over waste present in the slop tanks.
Trafigura first tried to have it treated in the Amsterdam
harbour, where it wastold proper facilities only existed in the
Rotterdam harbour. But the price tag was too high, and a new
solution was sought. Nigeria was considered when the Probo Koala
was in Lagos, but rejected. Instead, it turned to a contractor in
Ivory Coast. This contractor was paid only 35 dollar, around 20
euro/m3 to take care of the waste while process costs in The
Netherlands would have cost around 1000 euro/m3. But Trafigura
officials weren't too concerned as to the reason for such a
difference in the price tag. They knew they were assured mighty
profits from the operation, and the toxic waste was finally taken
off their hands.
A series of emails between the key players from the previous
months released by Greenpeace, the BBC and some other media and
posted on the independent website Wikileaks shows that
Trafigura knew very well the product was highly toxic, and it
was in a hurry to be rid of it. What happened in Abidjan is a
tragedy. The waste was spread around the city, and the toxic fumes
it emitted ended up exposing ten thousands of people. According to
official reports from Ivory Coast, 15 deaths were reported and the
city's hospitals were overloaded. Trafigura denies that serious
injuries or death could have been caused by the dumping of the
waste in Abidjan.It is a sad fact that toxic waste still ends up in
developing countries where people and the environment are least
protected, simply because this is cheaper than having the waste
processed in say, the Netherlands. After hazardous waste was dumped
too often in poor countries in the eighties, this was made illegal
under international law by the Basel
Convention, the Ban Amendment and the EU Waste Shipment
Regulation.
The Aftermath
Trafigura's role in the dumping wasn't clear for a few weeks
after the dumping. The Probo Koala was allowed to leave Ivory Coast
without questions, and if it hadn't been
blocked by Greenpeace after arriving in Estonia a few weeks
later,
it is not clear if it would have been stopped at all.
Trafigura commissioned its own report regarding the dumping - which
became known later on as the Minton Report. The preliminary
results were damning. The waste was as toxic as it gets. This
report was never revealed by Trafigura, but leaked three years
later. Minton later refuted his earlier damning conclusions, in a
statement published on Trafigura's website.
The role of Trafigura started to emerge. In the Netherlands, the
government started prosecuting Trafigura for lying regarding the
contents of the waste they had generated and for illegal export of
hazardous waste under European law. Ivory Coast authorities
detained the head of Trafigura, Claude Dauphin, and other Trafigura
employees. In the UK, the BBC program Newsnight started following
the case closely, despite a storm of libel lawsuits threats hitting
the UK media.
In 2007, Trafigura paid $160 million to the Ivory Coast
government in return for the assurance that Ivory Coast would drop
all its cases against Trafigura and its employees and would not
start any new litigation. The money paid was meant to clean up the
waste that was still dumped around Abidjan and to compensate
victims. In October 2008 criminal proceedings took place in
Abidjan, but, as was agreed to in the settlement, not against
Trafigura employees. Instead, two Africans - an employee of the
shipping agent WAIBS and the owner of the company Tommy that
Trafigura had hired to dump the waste - were convicted and
sentenced to jail for 5 and 20 years.
Recent developments
In the UK, Trafigura started to sue different media outlets. It
went as far as issuing a libel lawsuit against the lawyers suing
Trafigura on behalf of the victims, and attempting to prevent the
newspaper The Guardian from
reporting on a question that had been asked in Parliament.
In the UK, an out-of-court settlement was reached through which
Trafigura compensated victims in exchange for the charges to be
dropped. In return for $50 million for their clients and several
tens of millions for their own legal costs Leigh Day (the law firm
representing around 30,000 victims) agreed to sign a joint
agreement most probably dictated by Trafigura which claimed that
the waste could not have caused death and serious injury and
Trafigura wasn't responsible in any way.
Outside the UK, in the Netherlands,
Trafigura is being prosecuted in relation to the Ivory Coast waste
dumping. This case was initiated by Greenpeace. Not only does
Trafigura have an office there, this is also where it first tried
to have the waste treated - and where the price tag rose after it
became evident the content of the waste wasn't what it had said.
Greenpeace has a long
history of commitment to stopping toxic waste The fight
continues in court.
Greenpeace in the Netherlands also lodged a complaint with the
Advertising Code Authority. In advertisements, Trafigura suggested
that the High Court in London ruled that the toxic waste from the
Probo Koala could not cause any fatal or otherwise serious health
conditions. This is a misrepresentation, as no such judgement has
been passed in Great Britain. Furthermore, neither the High Court
nor any UK judge has ever made such a statement. Using the
advertisements, Trafigura attempted to falsely create the
impression that a judgement had been made in favour of the
company.
It is essential for everyone involved in this tragedy to see the
truth established in court. Trafigura has recognised they produced
the waste, brought it to Ivory Coast and gave it to an incompetent
company.
It cannot wash its hands clean of this by paying off the president
of Ivory Coast and coming to an out of court settlement.
Greenpeace finds it of major importance that the company is brought
to trial for the toxic disaster.