Government must enforce more stringent measures on fossil fuel companies—and ensure communities are paid reparations from the impact of the companies’ operations.
Greenpeace Philippines made the call as ground teams from the environmental group this week conducted rapid assessment and documentation of the damage brought on by the ongoing oil spill off the coast of Mindoro Island. The oil spill was caused by the sinking of the tanker MT Princess Empress owned by RDC Reield Marine Services (RDC).
“This oil spill, an unfolding environmental and social catastrophe, is a test case for reparations for environmental damage from fossil fuel operations,” said Greenpeace campaigner Jefferson Chua. “We need to see the government siding with communities and enforcing measures that would ensure the companies concerned go beyond ‘cleanup’ and pay reparations for the environmental destruction and its impacts on people. Payment must include costs of loss of livelihoods, short and long term health impacts, and destruction of ecosystems. Anything less is shortchanging the communities.”
The scale of the devastation from the spill so far is already widespread, impacting some of the country’s most biodiverse marine protected areas and richest fishing grounds. Coastal communities have no defense against oil spills which destroy their primary source of livelihoods from fishing and tourism, impact their health and well-being, contaminate the water they drink and air they breathe, and destroy their immediate environment. Worse, the impacts can also linger for generations, with spilled oil in particular often remaining just below surface soil for decades. Technically, spilled oil cannot be cleaned up; only mechanically removed.
Communities and local governments shoulder the heaviest burden for oil spills, particularly when polluters are not held fully accountable for these disasters. In the end, people pay the price in the form of a damaged environment and lost livelihoods, and the local government uses public money and resources to respond to damages caused by the carelessness of private companies.
Greenpeace says that the government needs to learn lessons from the past. This is not the first major oil spill that has damaged vital marine ecosystems, but the group says authorities seem to be struggling to get RDC to own up to the disaster. Reports indicate that the company took 5 days before they agreed to meet with the government, and they have not agreed to shoulder the costs for damages to the at least 21 marine reserves damaged by the spill.
“The company’s foot dragging in the face of their clear responsibility is a bad sign that they may leave LGUs and communities in the lurch,” said Chua. “National government must ensure the company pays the community not just for mechanical removal but for loss of livelihoods and destruction of ecosystem services. They should also bill the company for the costs of the government and community response.”
“It’s impossible to fully clean up an oil spill, and ecosystems never completely recover. This catastrophe is a reminder that at all stages of its lifecycle, fossil fuels bring permanent harm to people and the planet. With the landmark agreement in the UN to protect our high seas, the call is even more urgent to protect our biodiversity from the impacts of industries’ careless activities and transition to better systems for people and the planet,” added Chua.
