Fwd: The Bhopal legacy: reworking corporate liability-CSE's News Bulletin June 23, 2010

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From: Dr Mandhata Singh <drmandhata@sify.com>
Date: Sun, Jun 27, 2010 at 7:07 PM
Subject: Fwd: The Bhopal legacy: reworking corporate liability-CSE's News Bulletin June 23, 2010
To: Palash Chandra Biswas <palashbiswaskl@gmail.com>

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From: CSE <cse@equitywatch.org>
Date: Wed, Jun 23, 2010 at 12:19 PM
Subject: The Bhopal legacy: reworking corporate liability-CSE's News Bulletin June 23, 2010
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CSE's Fortnightly News Bulletin (June 23, 2010)
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An e-bulletin from Centre for Science and Environment, India, to our network of friends and professionals interested in environmental issues.
Scroll to the bottom of this page for information on how to subscribe and unsubscribe.

INSIDE:

* Editorial: The Bhopal legacy: reworking corporate liability (By Sunita Narain)

* Campaign News

- Update on CSE laboratory study on toxins in waste and water in Bhopal UCC factory

* Announcement

- Down To Earth Website: Reworked

* From Down To Earth magazine (News, features, opinion)

- Cover story: What price milk?
- Settled, evicted
- Death of a Tigress
- Trespassers allowed
- Biometric identification attracts major opposition

* Web exclusive

- Got Fodder?
- Illegal Construction

* From Gobar Times: Environment for beginners

- Kissing bugs that kill
- All about 'hot' days and 'cool' wears…

* Short training programmes

- Course on Domestic wastewater treatment and reuse
- Course on Urban rainwater harvesting


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The Bhopal legacy: reworking corporate liability
(Editorial by Sunita Narain)
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Days after President Barack Obama lashed out at British Petroleum (BP) saying he would not let them 'nickel and dime' his people in the oil spill case, a sessions court in Bhopal did precisely that with the victims of the world's worst industrial disaster.After 25 long years the court of the chief judicial magistrate pronounced its verdict on the criminal case against Union Carbide and its Indian subsidiary on the matter of negligence and liability. The court's decision holds seven officials of Union Carbide India guilty, but on diluted charges of accidental injury—tantamount to a traffic accident—and lets off the main accused of the US parent company. Universally called a travesty of justice, the verdict has, however, been welcomed by the US government. It believes the verdict now puts to rest all cases against its 'unfortunate' victim company, Union Carbide.

There is no doubt this is one case where the victims have been let down completely by the Indian State—government and judiciary. It is no small matter the Union law minister admitted as much, saying sadly "justice has been buried in the Bhopal case". It is well accepted the Supreme Court erred badly first in 1989, by settling all civil and criminal liability at a piddly sum of US $470 million (in 1991 it reopened the criminal case). Then in 1996, the apex court reduced criminal charges from section 304b—culpable homicide with a maximum punishment of 10 years—to a milder section 304a, used in traffic accidents for deaths caused by rash or negligent acts, which limits the term of imprisonment and provides for lighter fines. In all this, the court has been strangely silent about the management of relief and the lack of medical research and treatment for the victims.

The apex court, known to side with environmental victims, has also been vacillating on the matter of what should be done with the abandoned factory site, which is full of toxic contaminants the company left behind. The trial court has only compounded and sealed these errors—with a judgment that is hurting victims even more (if possible) than the deadly and horrific night when the city died a million deaths.

Bhopal is about shame. Bhopal is also about what the country, indeed all countries, must do about corporate liability for the unknown. In 1984, when the pesticide factory's poison gas hit Bhopal, to kill and maim thousands, nobody had seen or imagined a disaster of this kind. The question of liability was hushed up, largely because it involved a US company. Nobody wanted to mess around with this corporate powerhouse, even in those times of relative innocence. The amount settled for the disaster, still unfolding because lives continue to be lost and ailments do not go away, was less than what was agreed in the Exxon Valdex case that occurred a few years later in 1989. In this oil disaster, which hit the coast of Alaska in the US, the toll on the natural environment— the flora and fauna—was priced double (some US$ 1 billion settled for punitive and economic damages) that paid for the thousands of human lives lost and maimed in Bhopal.

But oil interests in the US are not small fry. In 1990, post-Exxon Valdez, the Oil Pollution Act was passed. The act capped the liability of economic damages from such an oil disaster at a mere US $75 million. Today, even as the US is learning how it never anticipated a disaster such as the BP spill—a leak in an oil well so deep in the ocean that human intervention is not possible—this cap has become a point of friction in the country. Today, the US Senate wants the cap removed. Otherwise it will have to prove that BP's oil spill was the result of deliberate and gross negligence and/or regulatory non-compliance. The US Senate knows this will be difficult to establish, given the country's legal process. The country's president also says it is not regulatory noncompliance, just that regulations have been played around with and diluted because of the 'cosy relationship between big oil and government'.

This is the right time to ask the Indian government to rethink the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damages Bill it wants to present in Parliament. The bill caps the operator's liability at Rs 500 crore per incident, with additional damages of approximately Rs 2,300 crore to be made good by the government. This amount is even less than what was paid in the case of Bhopal, a ridiculously low amount; this amount is a joke when it comes to a nuclear accident.

US companies with an interest in the nuclear business desperately want India to pass this bill. It will cap liability and hence reduce their insurance cover and costs. It is, thus, not a surprise that the official US response to the trial court judgment on Bhopal mentions this bill and wants the Indian government not to link the two.

But there is a link. The issue of liability must be established and it must be based on full costs. Only then can we believe the corporations that want to sell us these future and unknown high-risk technologies. After the shame of Bhopal, nothing less is acceptable.


Read this online: http://downtoearth.org.in/node/763
Post your comments at: http://cseindia.org/node/1555


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Campaign News
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Update on CSE laboratory study on toxins in waste and water in Bhopal UCC factory.

In December 2009, CSE had released its laboratory analysis of soil and water samples, which we collected from the Bhopal UCC factory. We were shocked to find high levels of toxins - all chemicals and pesticides - used by the company or manufactured still present both in the soil as well as in groundwater collected some 3 km from the site. We strongly raised the issue then asking government to clean the site and to pursue the matter of liability of Dow Chemicals, which had bought over the assets of Union Carbide. Please see the laboratory study, our Down To Earth cover and all the factsheets and copies of our correspondence on our site (http://cseindia.org/node/1029).

The recent decision of the Bhopal court to release the accused on bail and diluted charges has shocked all of us. We believe it is critical for government to take up the matter of waste disposal and liability urgently. Please see our letter to the Union minister of environment urging government to take remedial action on this critical matter (http://cseindia.org/userfiles/Bhopal%20letter%20to%20Jairam%20for%20GOM.pdf) .

We do believe that the Bhopal issue raises fundamental concerns about how the world needs a strong liability regime to deal with the risks of unknown technologies. Bhopal is not different from the BP incident where risks of oil exploration were underestimated. It also links to the proposed civil nuclear liability bill, which the government intends to introduce in this coming session of parliament. We will continue to raise our concerns (strongly) on these matters and will keep you informed.

- Sunita Narain (for the CSE team)  


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Announcements
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Down To Earth Website: Reworked

The site has undergone a major change. There are two principles behind it. First, to give viewers more than the content in print section and 
create an interactive relationship with our viewers. Second, to provide more than words, and bring in more web video, audio and interactive graphics.

The most important feature is Reader Reporter. We acknowledge that it is impossible for few journalists in Down To Earth to report the large universe of environment and science. We must admit that a lot of our stories are actually initiated by our alert readers who send us regular mail or call to inform about important developments in their neighbourhoods. Now we open up a new avenue for all our readers.

From now on, readers can send in their story directly to the website. You will find a form in the Reader Reporter section, it is easy to fill up, and the story will be on the website. We encourage readers to send photos, audio interviews, video, even if it is mobile phone video. To send in photos, audio and video files, send an email to voices@downtoearth.org.in and attach files. Some of these stories will also be picked up by our reporters for in-depth follow ups.

The campaign section will keep you informed on new developments on burning issues. A website is not a passive medium, so please join in, and comment and share your thoughts. From our side, all Down To Earth reporters will be using Reporters' Diary to tell their off beat stories and personal reflections on stories they do. In fact, our reporters now have faces!

We are trying to give you more stories in video and audio. Please suggest us stories and send your comments.

This new site is created with Drupal, an open source software, as our solidarity to open source movement.

The site is new and we shall be fixing all problems in next few weeks. Please tell your friends and colleagues to take a look and tell us what you think.


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Down To Earth Magazine
(http://www.downtoearth.org.in)
====================================

Cover Story: What price milk?
First pulses, now milk. The common household is compelled to give up on its easy sources of protein.
Read this online: http://downtoearth.org.in/node/793


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Web Exclusives
====================================

Got Fodder?
http://www.downtoearth.org.in/node/1161
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Illegal Construction   
http://www.downtoearth.org.in/node/1160


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More news, features, opinion in Down To Earth
====================================

Frontpage: Settled, evicted
http://downtoearth.org.in/node/766
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Special report: Death of a Tigress
http://downtoearth.org.in/node/813
------------------------------ -------
Special report: Trespassers allowed
http://downtoearth.org.in/node/820
------------------------------ -------
Special report: Biometric identification attracts major opposition
http://downtoearth.org.in/node/830


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Gobar Times
http://www.gobartimes.org
====================================

Kissing bugs that kill
http://www.gobartimes.org/20100615/dead_forgotten.asp
-------------------------------------
All about 'hot' days and 'cool' wears…
http://www.gobartimes.org/20100615/green_school.asp

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Short training programmes
====================================

Course on Domestic wastewater treatment and reuse (August 24-28, 2010)

Course details: http://cseindia.org/node/1561

Course contact: Merajuddin Ahmad,
Water Management Unit
Email: ahmad@cseindia.org
Tel: 91-11-2995 5124, 6394, 6399, Mob: 9899820945
Fax: 91-11-2995 5879
------------------------------ -------

Course on Urban Rainwater Harvesting (July 27-31, 2010)

Course details: http://cseindia.org/node/1560

Course contact: Harshita Soni
Water Management Unit
Email: harshita@cseindia.org
Tel: 91-11-29955124/6110/6394/6399 (Ext. 225) Mob: 09717880332
Fax: (011) 29955879


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Recent Publications
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Challenge of the New Balance
CSE's landmark study on how India will reduce emissions to combat climate change.

Order print copy: http://csestore.cse.org.in/challengenewbalance.html
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Mobility crisis – Agenda for Action 2010
CSE's latest book in its Right to Clean Air Campaign series.

Order now: http://csestore.cse.org.in/mobility-crisis.html


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_______________________________________________

--
Dr. Mandhata Singh
From Kolkata (INDIA)
view my profile......
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​अपनी भाषा को पहचान दें, हिंदी का प्रसार करें।।
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THANKS

--
Palash Biswas
Pl Read:
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