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May 3rd, 2012:

Landowner Can Sue Shell Over Fracking Hazards

Courthouse News Service
Landowner Can Sue Shell Over Fracking Hazards

Thursday, May 3, 2012

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. (CN) – Shell Energy cannot dismiss claims that the controversial fracking technique to extract natural gas is an “ultra hazardous activity,” a federal judge ruled.

The claim stems from a lawsuit Edward Kamuck filed against Shell Energy Holdings GP in August 2011.

Kamuck says the energy giant’s fracking operation on land neighboring his 93-acre tract in rural Pennsylvania constitutes “an abnormally dangerous and ultra hazardous activity,” and that Shell should be subjected to strict liability for “the contamination and pollution caused by … releases, spills, sprays, emissions, discharges and flowback of hazardous chemicals and combustible gases.” read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Screwed by Shell Oil

FROM OUR ARCHIVES…

BlueOregon: Screwed by Shell Oil

3 May 2005

Kari Chisholm

Brent DeHart is a member of the Salem City Council, a former president of the state gasoline dealers’ association, and an independent dealer of Shell gasoline. And by all accounts, a pretty nice guy.

But all day today, Brent DeHart has been picketing another Shell gas station just three blocks from his place. Why? Because that Shell station – owned by corporate – is selling gas cheaper than Brent can buy it… from Shell. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

With Little Fanfare, a New Effort to Prosecute Employers That Flout Safety Laws

FROM OUR ARCHIVES: In March, for example, Motiva Enterprises, an oil refining company partly owned by Shell Oil, pleaded guilty to endangering workers negligently and committing environmental crimes in Delaware. The company was ordered to pay a $10 million fine and sentenced to three years’ probation.

THE NEW YORK TIMES: With Little Fanfare, a New Effort to Prosecute Employers That Flout Safety Laws

3 May 2005

By DAVID BARSTOW and LOWELL BERGMAN

For decades, the most egregious workplace safety violations have routinely escaped prosecution, even when they led directly to deaths or grievous injuries. Safety inspectors hardly ever called in the Justice Department. Congress repeatedly declined to toughen criminal laws for workplace deaths. Employers with extensive records of safety violations often paid insignificant fines and continued to ignore basic safety rules.

Inside the Bush administration, though, a novel effort to end this pattern of leniency has begun to take root. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Revolving Doors? Kate Smith, Shell UK Head of UK Government Relations

I’ve recently learned that a Kate Smith is about to become Director of the Americas Department at the FCO.  Would this by any chance be the same Kate Smith who moved from the FCO to Shell in 2008 as head of UK government relations?   Is there any word of that Kate Smith (for it must surely be she?) taking a sideways move back to the FCO?  This kind of revolving door move from diplomatic service to Shell and back surely, if that is the case, deserves some comment?

3 May 2012

By John Donovan

Printed below is an email I sent to Mr Michiel Brandjes on 1 May, which I also copied to Kate Smith, Shell UK Head of UK Government Relations. Mr Brandjes is Company Secretary & General Counsel Corporate of Royal Dutch Shell Plc.

There has been no response thus far. Any response received will be added to this article.

Reminds me of a revolving door controversy in America also involving Shell.

As US Interior Secretary, Gale Norton was responsible for the 2006 decision to award valuable oil shale leases in Colorado to a Royal Dutch Shell subsidiary. Months later she became General Counsel of Shell Oil. We were approached and supplied Shell internal documents to a U.S. government agency investigating related allegations of corruption, of which Norton was eventually cleared. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Shell’s Alabama Offshore Drilling Plans Challenged In Court

Shell’s Alabama Offshore Drilling Plans Challenged In Court

By GREG BLUESTEIN 05/ 2/12 12:59 PM ET

ATLANTA — Environmental groups urged an appeals court on Wednesday to block Shell from drilling 10 new deep-water wells off Alabama’s coast, arguing that federal regulators haven’t properly reviewed the risks of undersea drilling in the aftermath of the 2010 Gulf of Mexico spill.

The coalition of green groups told the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that federal regulators merely “rubber-stamped” Shell’s plans to drill the wells in the same canyon where the blowout of BP’s Macondo well triggered an explosion that killed 11 rig workers and unleashed a gusher that spewed more than 200 million gallons of oil into the Gulf. Netherlands-based Shell is a subsidiary of UK-based Royal Dutch Shell PLC. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Enviros Want Probe of Shell’s Drilling Claims

COURTHOUSE NEWS SERVICE

Wednesday, May 02, 2012

Enviros Want Probe of Shell’s Drilling Claims

By TRAVIS SANFORD

(CN) – Royal Dutch Shell may be misleading investors with “inflated claims regarding its technology and readiness to drill in Alaska’s Arctic,” the Center for Biological Diversity told the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Such misstatements might lead investors to think that Shell is “not exposing itself to the huge liability BP faced as a result of the Deepwater Horizon disaster,” according to a letter authored by CBD oceans director Miyoko Sakashita.

“There is little to no proven oil spill response capacity in the Arctic and no effective recovery technology for broken ice conditions,” Sakashita added. “Against this backdrop, Shell has made statements about its investments and technology that appear contradictory to other available information.” read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

Shell Secures One Of Last Permits Needed For Arctic Drilling

Shell Secures One Of Last Permits Needed For Arctic Drilling

By Tennille Tracy, Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- Royal Dutch Shell (RDSA, RDSB) secured one of the last permits it needs to begin drilling in the Arctic Ocean this summer, after proving to federal regulators that it can operate without harming whales and seals.

The company announced Wednesday that it had obtained a so-called incidental harassment authorization from the National Marine Fisheries Service, clearing one of the last hurdles before it can begin exploratory drilling in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas. read more

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.
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