Tackling the UK petrochemical industry1 August 2004
For decades the US fenceline community of Norco, Louisiana struggled to deal with their neighbours from hell, UK petrochemical industry giant Shell.
Now, under the inspired leadership of Goldman Environment Prize winner Margie Richard, Norco residents are fighting back.
Last month Margie Richard very kindly spoke to us while in London for the launch of Behind the Shine (PDF† 841K), the alternative Shell Report.
Why are you here in the UK?
Battling Shell:Margie Richard
I came here to represent a community living beside a Shell facility in Norco, Louisiana.
It is important to put a human face to Shell's social and economic impacts on society.
After nearly 20 years, Norco people are still suffering from industrial pollution.
Now shareholders at the Shell annual general meeting will hear from those affected.
Even if the problems are not solved overnight we've got the stakeholders to listen. Maybe they will think about human issues and not just about profits, profits, profits.
Margie Richard
What is it like living beside Shell?
Shell are supposed to communicate with people living nearby. In the past this was a one-way-street.
For four generations we had no input in decision making, no say on the industry in our town.
People need to know what is being manufactured at a plant. At Norco lots of chemicals were produced.
The chemical plant was built in the fifties. As a young girl I sat looking at the beauty of the plantations and the farmland. This was replaced by pollution, smoke stacks, flares and noise.
Margie Richard
What were the problems?
It took a long time for people to understand that if you are inhaling benzene you are inhaling cancer causing agents. We lived near Shell for decades before government introduced restrictions on how much they could pollute.
So for generations we had been inhaling with unknown effects. My sister died from an unidentified disease.
Was it your sister's death that led you to join the campaign against Shell?
My Dad was active in the civil rights movements, so I learned that we cannot solve problems unless we meet with those causing them.
It was like a spiritual call deep within my heart, almost like I made a promise to my sister that I wasn't going to stop until I found what caused her disease.
And you are now a leader of a local group?
Pumping pollution: Shell
I helped organise the group Concerned Citizens of Norco.
Our struggle has been going on for about 20 years.
People who live nearby Shell should have been included in the decision making, should know what's going on environmentally, and should understand the effects to our health.
We need to ensure government understands that if corporations are not accountable for the abuse and destruction of the environment and natural resources, we all suffer.
Have you seen Shell's impact on other parts of the world?
When I went to Nigeria in 1998 I saw sugar cane in the fields, and it reminded me of home. Then I saw children playing beside the gas flares. No one should have to live in conditions like that.
There was a spill near water that people used for drinking, washing and cooking. I told the local Shell people, "come on, you can't do this to people".
What would it take to clean up that spill? Not very much, maybe more labour than money. It's terrible that they contaminate water people need for their livelihoods.
What does Friends of the Earth bring to your campaign?
Friends of the Earth makes it possible for common people like me to be heard, when it's impossible for grassroots groups because it takes money.
Friends of the Earth has opened many doors, connecting me with people with similar struggles. Without this international network, I would never have been able to help people in Nigeria and Somalia.
If I can help somebody then my life is not in vain, because Earth is one in spite of all the differences.
People in the UK can make a huge difference by telling corporations to correct some of the problems that need to be corrected.
Margie Richard
If you are inspired by Margie's story, why not visit:
- Behind the Shine: The Other Shell Report 2003 (PDF† 841K)
- Refinery Reform Campaign USA
- Riding the Dragon: Shellfacts.com
- Join Friends of the Earth
Images: © Nick Cobbing and Thom Scott
†To view PDF files you will need to download Adobe Acrobat Reader. Visually impaired users can get extra help with these documents from access.adobe.com.
