Carbon Web Newsletter Issue 5, 21 August 2006

Colombia - BP Settles in Bogota

BP has finally agreed to compensate Colombian farmers displaced by the OCENSA pipeline, after more than ten years of legal struggle.

BP came to the negotiating table in Bogota spurred by the threat of legal action, which lawyers Leigh Day & Co. were taking to London's High Court. The suit alleged that laying of the pipeline during the 1990s lead to environmental damage ruining livelihoods of local people. A community leader was killed by a far-right paramilitary group and the local lawyer representing the farmers was forced to flee Colombia after being placed on a paramilitary hit list.

BP will not pay direct compensation, instead setting up an Environmental and Social Improvement Trust Fund. The exact settlement remains secret but is believed to be close to three million pounds. The Colombia Solidarity Campaign stated that "still the corporation has not admitted liability. This is not yet justice... it's a step in the right direction."
www.colombiasolidarity.org.uk
www.leighday.co.uk

This article is from the Carbon Web Newsletter Issue 5, 21 August 2006.

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Carbon Web Newsletter Issue 5, 21 August 2006