Oil Giant Schlumberger Forced To Pay Millions Of Dollars To Fix Damage Done To The Environment...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MONDAY, JANUARY 30, 2006
WWW.USDOJ.GOV
ENRD
(202) 514-2007
TDD (202) 514-1888

Company to Pay $11.8 Million in Compensation for
PCB-Damaged Fishery and Habitat

Company will perform work costing additional $8 to 10 million to aid ecosystem

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Schlumberger Technology Corporation (Schlumberger), headquartered in Texas, has agreed to pay $11.8 million to federal and state agencies for injuries to natural resources caused by the presence of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB’s) in the Twelvemile Creek, Lake Hartwell and surrounding areas, the Justice Department announced today. Schlumberger will also spend an additional $8 to 10 million to purchase and remove two hydroelectric dams on Twelvemile Creek, and to conduct stream restoration activities.

The $11.8 million will be used to provide opportunities for the public to catch uncontaminated fish in the vicinity of Lake Hartwell, to enhance the fishery of Lake Hartwell and Twelvemile Creek, and to improve the habitat and natural resources within the Twelvemile Creek corridor. Additionally, Schlumberger is required to pay $530,000 to reimburse the natural resources agencies for their costs in assessing natural resource damages.

“Schlumberger’s payment to fund restoration by the federal and state trustees will be used for projects designed to compensate the public for the injury to the fishery and to the habitat from PCB contamination,” said Sue Ellen Wooldridge, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “The company’s agreement to purchase and remove the dams will directly improve the Twelvemile Creek ecosystem and provide significant environmental benefits for the affected communities.”

The states of South Carolina and Georgia are joining the settlement with the United States, which was lodged today in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina.

Schlumberger is the current owner of the Sangamo–Weston plant site, a capacitor manufacturing plant in Pickens, South Carolina. The plant was owned and operated by Sangamo–Weston from 1955 to 1987. Schlumberger assumed the liabilities of Sangamo associated with the PCB contamination in a series of corporate transactions that took place between 1990 and 2003. PCB’s are a mixture of synthetic organic chemicals which, because of their good insulating properties, were widely used in electrical equipment. In the U.S. PCB’s were banned from use in most products by 1977 because it was discovered that they accumulate in the environment and can have immunological, developmental and reproductive effects in organisms such as fish, mammals and birds.

Today’s settlement resolves claims for natural resource damages under the federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (the Superfund Act) and the Clean Water Act, as well as state law claims for natural resource damages. Under an earlier administrative action, Schlumberger is conducting cleanup activities in and around Lake Hartwell under the supervision of the EPA in Atlanta, which activities will not be affected by today’s settlement.

The governmental agencies involved in the settlement are the U.S. Department of the Interior through the United States Fish and Wildlife Service; the U.S. Department of Defense through the Army Corps of Engineers; the Office of the Governor of the State of South Carolina; the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources; the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control; and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.

The Justice Department will accept public comments on the consent decree for a 30-day public comment period that will be publicly announced and will begin shortly. A copy of the consent decree will be available on the Department of Justice website at http://www.usdoj.gov/enrd/open.html.

###

06-046

Schlumberger's official website:
http://www.schlumberger.com

Listen To The

On W.E. A.L.L. B.E. Radio


Listen To The Schlumberger 2 exclusive interview featuring Sis. Tawanna Thierry of the Schlumberger 2, Bro. Marcus Jones (the father of The Jena 6's Mychal Bell), and The National Action Network's Bro. Joe Lawrence:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/weallbe/2008/01/27/Tha-Artivist-PresentsWE-ALL-BE-Radio