A confidential study that Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B) has been accused of trying to shield from public view showed worsening “catastrophic” pollution around oil spill sites in Nigeria, WSJ reports.
At least one of the study’s authors has urged the findings to be widely distributed because they pointed to significant health risks to the local Bodo community in Nigeria but said that Shell had denied him permission to publish the study’s results in a scientific journal, according to the WSJ report.
The academic paper reportedly said the average surface soil contamination in Bodo had tripled since the original U.N. probe, and only one out of 32 samples taken from the top two inches of soil in the area around Bodo was within Nigeria’s legally acceptable limit for oil contamination.
Shell reached a 2015 out-of-court settlement with the local community, admitting to liability and agreeing to pay £55M, or ~$80M at the time, in compensation.
