Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. 24/7 Space News .




ENERGY TECH
China lawyer sues oil giants over spill: report
by Staff Writers
Beijing (AFP) Aug 17, 2011


A Chinese lawyer is suing a state-owned energy giant and its US partner over a huge oil spill off China's northeast coast, amid public anger over the resulting pollution, state media said Wednesday.

More than 2,100 barrels of oil and oil-based mud -- a substance used as a lubricant in undersea drilling -- have leaked from two platforms in Bohai Bay jointly owned by ConocoPhillips and China's CNOOC.

Jia Fangyi filed the private lawsuit against the two companies with three courts in China, demanding they "immediately stop polluting the environment and clean up the pollution", the state-run Beijing Times newspaper said.

He also pressed the companies to set up a 10-billion-yuan ($1.6-billion) compensation fund to pay for damages caused by the pollution and restore the area's ecological system, it said.

Local fishermen have blamed the spill for the loss of much of their seasonal harvest, while environmental groups signed an open letter to ConocoPhillips calling for faster and more transparent clean-up efforts.

Meanwhile, Jia also plans to bring the State Oceanic Administration (SOA) to court for "administrative unresponsiveness" because it delayed reporting the oil spill to the public for a whole month, the report said.

It also failed to name CNOOC -- which has a majority stake in the oil project and shares profits from the crude produced -- as a liable party for the spill, the lawyer was quoted as saying.

The SOA -- which supervises and manages China's maritime area -- said Tuesday it planned to sue ConocoPhillips after the spill reportedly polluted beaches and killed marine life in the area. It made no mention of CNOOC.

It told AFP the amount in damages was yet to be determined. But earlier media reports said the maximum fine for maritime pollution under Chinese law is 200,000 yuan.

Both companies have apologised for the spill, and ConocoPhillips said last week it hoped to clean up the oil by the end of August.

.


Related Links
Powering The World in the 21st Century at Energy-Daily.com






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








ENERGY TECH
North Sea oil leak reduced to two barrels a day: Shell
London (AFP) Aug 16, 2011
Shell said Tuesday that two barrels of oil per day were still spilling into the North Sea from its Gannet Alpha platform through a second leak, despite having brought most of it under control. "The primary leak in the flow line is pretty much dead," said Glen Cayley, technical director of the Anglo-Dutch oil giant's exploration and production activities in Europe, six days after the leak was ... read more


ENERGY TECH
GRAIL Launch Less Than One Month Away

The Lunar Farside And The Ancient Big Splat

"Big Splat" May Explain The Moon's Mountainous Far Side

LADEE Completes Mission Critical Design Review

ENERGY TECH
Opportunity Reaches Endeavour Crater

Lava, not water, said cause of Mars beds

No Convenience Stores Between Earth and Mars... Yet

Opportunity For A Captain Cook At Endeavour Crater

ENERGY TECH
NASA Selects Seven Firms To Provide Near-Space Flight Services

NASA moves forward in manned spaceflight

Russia space chief regrets focus on manned missions

Boeing Selects Atlas V Rocket for Initial Commercial Crew Launches

ENERGY TECH
No Toilet for Tiangong

Toys for Tiangong

Why Tiangong is not a Station Hub

China to launch experimental satellite in coming days

ENERGY TECH
SpaceX plans November test flight to space station

Crew Stows Spacesuits, Completes Robotics Checkout

The Orbital Perspective of Astronaut Ron Garan

Voyage to Vaccine Discovery Continues with Space Station Salmonella Study

ENERGY TECH
China successfully launches maritime satellite

NASA selects Virgin Galactic for Suborbital Flights

Arabsat-5C is welcomed in French Guiana for Arianespace's next Ariane 5 launch

SES-2 Satellite Launch Preparations Kick off in Kourou

ENERGY TECH
Alien World is Blacker than Coal

Strange planet is blacker than coal

Exoplanet Aurora Makes For An Out-of-this-World Sight

Distant planet aurorae modeled

ENERGY TECH
Shooting light a curve

Catalyst that makes hydrogen gas breaks speed record

Coffee stain helps smarter inks

Samsung to launch banned tablet on Dutch market




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement