After the blue economy conference, it was clear that Kenya which through Uhuru Kenyatta vowed to be a role model is on the front in the war against pollution of the environment.Now there is a serious waste disposal war going on in court.
Nema wrote to Tullow on August 7, 2018 giving it 14 days to remove all the accumulated drill cuttings from Twiga 1 site and transport them elsewhere for alternative treatment and disposal.
The disposal of oil-laced drill cuttings, which Tullow claims could cost more than Sh3 billion, has put it at loggerheads with Nema, which gave the explorer tight timelines to take care of the waste and even recommended which firms should be used to handle them.
Tullow disputed both the methodology Nema wanted it to use in getting rid of the cuttings from Twiga 1 site near Lomokamor, Turkana South, as well as the firms the state agency fronted for the job.
In papers filed before the environmental tribunal, Tullow said Nema’s suggestion that the drill cuttings should be transported elsewhere for destruction was both bad for the environment and uneconomical.
Nema proposed Environmental Combustion and Consultants Limited (ECCL), a company whose facility at Stoni Athi River had been destroyed by fire in 2017 and three other firms — Bamburi Cement (Mombasa), Bamburi Cement Athi River and Envirosafe Limited to be given the job.
“The directive by Nema to move the waste and the recommended incineration treatment does not holistically deal with the potential pollution and amounts to transferring a challenge from Turkana County to a different country, which could expose Tullow Oil to a future environmental liability by the communities proximal to the proposed facilities,” the explorer argued in the affidavits presented before the Environmental Tribunal in August.
It is not clear why the state agency fronted the firms to handle the multibillion contracts.
Mr Mbogo told the tribunal that it had already advised Nema on the destruction of ECCL’s facility in Athi River but the agency still insisted on recommending the firm whose new waste management facility in Migori and Machakos counties were neither physically ready to receive the drill cuttings nor were they licensed to enable Tullow to own/operate them a hazardous waste disposal site.
“Whereas treatment of drill cuttings either at site or otherwise is expensive, Tullow, in line with global best practices, is committed to maintaining safe and sustainable environmental standards throughout its operations,”Tullow Oil Kenya managing director Martin Mbogo said
Mbogo revealed that the firm is still in talks with Nema to reach a ‘technically and environmentally sound solution’ on the disposal of the drill cuttings.
Do you have any ideas on a sound solution that should be agreed by the two bodies?