(Adds reaction from Shell, environmental group, restores
background)
By Bart H. Meijer
AMSTERDAM, Jan 29 (Reuters) - In a victory for
environmentalists, a Dutch appeals court on Friday said that the
Nigerian subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell was
responsible for multiple oil pipeline leaks in the Niger Delta
and ordered it to pay unspecified damages to farmers.
The case was brought in 2008 by four farmers and
environmental group Friends of the Earth, seeking reparations
for lost income from contaminated land and waterways in the
region, the heart of Nigeria's oil industry.
Friday's decision went a step further than a 2013 ruling by
a lower court, saying that Shell's Nigerian subsidiary was
responsible for multiple cases of oil pollution.
The appeals judge sided with the farmers in four of six
spills covered by the lawsuit and postponed a verdict in the
remaining cases, where the lower court had previously found
Shell subsidiary SPDC responsible.
Although only SPDC was found to be directly responsible, the
decision could open the door for more environmental cases
against the oil major.
Shell said in a statement it continues to believe the spills
were caused by sabotage.
"We are therefore disappointed that this court has made a
different finding on the cause of these spills and in its
finding that SPDC is liable."
The appeals court said Shell had not proven "beyond
reasonable doubt" that the oil spills had been caused by
sabotage, rather than poor maintenance.
"This makes Shell Nigeria responsible for the damage caused
by the leaks", the court said.
Friends of the Earth said the ruling exceeded all
expectations.
"This is fantastic news for the environment and people
living in developing countries," said Friends of the Earth's
Netherlands head, Donald Pols. It creates legal grounds to "take
on the multinationals who do them harm."
Shell settled a similar case in a British court in 2015,
agreeing to pay 70 million euros ($85 million) to members of the
Niger Delta Bodo community.
The Dutch appeals court did not hold Shell's parent company
Netherlands-based Royal Dutch Shell directly responsible, but
ordered it to install a leak detection system on the Oruma
pipeline, the source of several spills in the case.
The spills addressed by the court case occurred between 2004
and 2007, but pollution from leaking oil pipelines, which Shell
maintains are the result of sabotage, remains a major problem in
the Niger Delta.
($1 = 0.8241 euros)
(Reporting by Bart Meijer; writing by Anthony Deutsch; editing
by Jason Neely, Kirsten Donovan)
