A local NGO in Unity has said their office has received information that over 300 head of cattle and 274 goats died after drinking water contaminated with oil, a claim the state government has refuted.
The Climate Change Adaptation and Smart Action (CCASA) said residents in Koch County and Unity State oil fields reported the mass death of livestock allegedly after an oil spill on 5 November.
CCASA’s executive director, Thor Yohannes Bol, told Radio Tamazuj Tuesday that oil production is risking the lives of people and animals and that the oil-producing companies are not doing enough to mitigate the negative environmental impacts of their activities. He said his entity had written raising concern over the matter.
“We call upon the local authorities to formulate amicable solutions to counter continuous death of animals and people in the oil production region,” Thor said. “We are frustrated to see vulnerable people suffering for decades from such a man-made catastrophe.”
He added: “Lack of remedies to address this matter is unconstitutional and undermine environmental policy to protect people’s lives and their properties in the oil-producing State.”
Thor tasked the government and the oil companies to conduct assessments in Tharjiat and Unity oil fields and to carry out fact findings of the oil spills and poor environmental management.
“The oil companies must respect environmental policies and other legal frameworks to protect the environment and the people, including their livestock,” Thor said. “The government must enforce policies and hold accountable oil operating companies.”
He demanded the immediate compensation and reparations of the victims by the oil companies and the oil companies to live up to their corporate social responsibility to give back to society in terms of the provision of services.
“We are very concerned by this worrying development at the time the communities are displaced from their homes by floods and are in dire need of necessities,” Thor charged. “The oil spilled and unnecessary dumping of the oil waste are exposing the people and their livestock to hazards and destroying the environment.”
However, the minister of information and communication in Unity State, Hon Gabriel Makuei Bol, confirmed the death of livestock but attributed it to the floods momentarily ravaging the area.
“The animals and goats are dying due to flooding and lack of enough grazing areas as places of high ground have been submerged by devastative flooding in Unity State,” Minister Hon said.
Asked about the claim that the animals are dying due to oil-contaminated water, the information minister said the environment ministry can elucidate on that.
For his part, the state minister of animal resources and fisheries, Tungwar Ruei, confirmed the deaths of cattle and goats and also ascribed it to the flooding but said a committee had been formed to investigate oil spills as well.
“There is no grazing space for the cows and goats, everywhere is flooding. The information you got is true because animals and goats are dying,” Minister Ruei said. “Even the petroleum, when it leaks from the pipelines and gets on to the grass, can also kill animals and goats. This can also happen but this year we are still waiting to see the concrete information.”
He said people are saying there are oil leakages from the pipes and that a committee has been set up to assess the alleged rumors of oil spills.