1. Green criminology and ‘Brown Crime’: pollution, dumping and de- manufacturing in global resource industries Nigel South ESRC Green Criminology seminar series, Northumbria University October 2013

2. Theoretical orientation green criminology ‘brown crime’ context of neo-liberalism = promotion of ‘no-limits growth’ and minimisation of regulation measures and arrangements that might mitigate or prevent such damaging acts.

3. Political economy and neo-liberalism The contradiction in neo-liberal doctrine is the claim (pretence) that the full costs of transactions must be borne by the involved parties …. when clearly they are not. Many economic activities impose significant costs on the wellbeing of humans and ecosystems

4. For conventional economists these are just ‘externalities’. Neo-liberalism regards environmental harm as accidental, unintentional and external and economic growth justifies the necessity or desirability of harm if supports such growth (Ruggiero and South, 2013 a & b)

5. A neoliberalist world-view: The planet is a resource available to those who are most capable of exploiting it. This is the story of human history in which the genius of the (human) species for enterprise and exploitation has always won out against the restraints and resistance of nature. Justice should not be concerned with the results of economic transactions but only with whether the transactions themselves are fair. (Hayek, 1973) Harm against humans and the environment, therefore, may be a fair outcome of economic initiative. This philosophy underpins the rape of the wild and the pillaging of the planet (R&S, 2013 b)

6. Green criminology perspective ‘Green criminology’: umbrella term to cover and capture the study of ecological, environmental or green crime or harm, and related matters of speciesism and of environmental (in)justice. not a unitary enterprise - diversity is a strength; an evolving perspective (see, e.g., South 1998: 212-213; White 2008:14). covers - e.g. Walters (2010: 181): ‘The contamination of drinking water, the degradation of soil and the pollution of air and land all expose people (usually those in poor and developing countries) to substantial health risks …. acts of eco crime are linked to the poverty and social dislocation, as well as the mental and physical debilitation, of people who are victims of corporations and states that deliberately violate environmental agreements.’

7. White, (2008: 98-99) ‘brown crime’ Threefold typology: ‘brown’, ‘green’ and ‘white’ issues ‘brown’ = urban life and pollution—air pollution, disposal of toxic/hazardous waste, oil spills, pesticides, pollution of beaches and water catchments; ‘green’ issues = conservation and ‘wilderness’ issues (e.g., acid rain, biodiversity loss, habitat destruction, logging, ozone depletion, toxic algae and water pollution); ‘white’ issues = impact of new technologies and laboratory practices (e.g., animal testing and experimentation; cloning of human tissue; environmentally-related communicable diseases; food irradiation; GMOs; in-vitro processes; etc)

8. ‘brown’ = urban life and pollution, air pollution, disposal of toxic/hazardous waste, oil spills, pesticides, pollution of beaches and water catchments...: 1.oil 2.dangerous mineral waste 3.radioactive waste 4.chemical warfare and legacies 5.asbestos pollution 6.De-manufacturing – hazards of the global re-cycling economy

9. Oil Crimes and spoiling of the environment in Nigeria gas flares and oil tragedies oil spills and water pollution pollution, poverty and abuse of rights

10. ‘Environmental racism’ Burning unwanted ‘associated gas’ (produced as oil is pumped out of the ground) has been illegal in Nigeria since 1984. Three missed deadlines to cease... New facilities and flares established e.g. In 2010 in Niger Delta “‘This is environmental racism’ said Alagoa Morris, an investigator with a local group, Environmental Rights Action, who regularly risks arrest to monitor activities at the heavily guarded oil and gas installations. ‘What we are asking is that oil companies should have to meet the same standards in Nigeria that they do operating in their own countries.’” Flaring produces toxins in the atmosphere that rain into the swamps, creeks and forests, acidifies the rain, pollutes the soil. According to Howden (2010): ‘Medical studies have shown the gas burners contribute to an average life expectancy in the Delta region of 43 years. The area also has Nigeria’s highest infant mortality rate – 12 per cent of newborns fail to see out their first year.’ Howden, (2010), The Independent.

11. Shell Global (2013) say: ‘Oil fields produce a mix of oil, water and natural gas. In the past it was standard industry practice to burn off, or flare, the gas if there was no market for it. But this was a waste of a valuable resource and produces carbon dioxide. It can also cause disturbance (sic) to local communities that have often grown up around the flare pits. Since 2002, flaring from SPDC facilities has fallen by more than 60% – due to our work to collect the gas produced with the oil, as well as production losses. SPDC and its partners continue to invest in reducing flares and have resumed work on many delayed projects and started new ones. SPDC is currently improving or installing associated gas gathering (AGG) facilities at 17 flowstations. When all this work is completed it will cover over 90% of SPDC’s production potential.’

13. The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) report (2011) exposed over 50 years of pollution as a result of oil production in Ogoniland. Nigerian Govt has not followed own laws and requirements (a case of secondary green crimes / harms in the Carrabine et al typology) Niger Delta suffers more pollution each year than the Gulf of Mexico oil spill caused. ‘Oil companies have been exploiting Nigeria’s weak regulatory system for too long’ – Audrey Gaughran, Amnesty International (in Vidal, 2011, The Observer). Military and private armies involved in Human Rights abuses to protect oil wealth and right to pollute...

15. Elsewhere... Regulatory systems allow oil companies to provide key measures of the extent of oil spills and damage as research published in Nature shows - this is (unsurprisingly) often an under-estimate of the true extent of spill and damage. And this, of course, relates to cases that are known and reported. There are spills, leaks and ecological damage occurring on a highly regular basis across the world – the majority never attracting the kind of publicity attached to BP Deepwater Horizon / Gulf of Mexico.

16. Toxic tragedies ‘Toxic tragedies’ (Cass, 1996: 110-112) are commonplace but difficult to prosecute due to problems drawing together evidence that ties commercial operations to specific illegal offences; cases of corruption; and strong industry ‘profit-at-all- costs’ motivations. Simon (2000: 639) suggests the waste industry is chronically open to corruption, And ‘most of its victims include the least powerful people on the face of the earth, poverty-stricken people of color, most of whom are powerless to resist the environmental deviance of multinational firms.’ (ibid: 639).

17. But this disregard and poor environmental management does not only happen in the developing world or marginalized communities of colour in the USA...

18. Disposal and dispersal of dangerous waste In the UK, from the 1940s onward, Corby in Northamptonshire was the 680 acre site of a massive steel works which over the 46 year history of operational life ‘produced a dizzying array of dangerous waste – nickel, chromium, zinc, arsenic, boron and cadmium’ (Gordon, 2009). At the end of the life of the site, when British Steel closed it in 1980, the local authority took control and was faced with the challenge of disposing of the waste.

19. This they proceeded to do, ‘in the back of open lorries, sludge spilling onto the public roads of the town’ with one local remembering ‘the smell and the metallic taste of it, and how if you drove behind one of the lorries, your car always ended up covered in a light film.’ (ibid). Reporting as the High Court heard a group litigation case against Corby Borough Council at the end of July 2009, Gordon (31 st July, 2009) records that the court heard how:

20. waste was dumped all over Corby by staff that Mr Justice Akenhead described … as being “unqualified and insufficiently experienced”; a waste management expert who saw how the materials were disposed of, was said to have been “appalled”. Even at the time that the land was being “reclaimed”, an auditor described the operation as “naïve, cavalier and incompetent.” … after a ten year battle, the Judge ruled that Corby Borough Council had been negligent and that the dumping of toxic material may have caused birth defects in children.

21. This was a case described by lawyers acting for the affected families as: ‘the biggest child poisoning case since Thalidomide’ (Gammell, 29 th July 2009)

22. Nearly one year later, in April 2010, Corby council withdrew its legal challenge and reached an agreement to pay compensation to the affected children albeit without accepting liability in the case.

23. Radioactive waste Walters (2007: 188 and passim) > links between eco-crime and radioactive waste and nuclear industry activities: ‘The range of risks associated with commercial enterprises in research, power production, telecommunications, medicine and pharmaceuticals as well as state activities in military defence and war, all utilise varying degrees of radioactive substances that produce waste.’ Radioactive waste may be re-cycled in some forms and can be exported legally or illegally but while valuable for some purposes it is a difficult commodity to manage. One way of managing it has been to simply dump it at sea (Ringius, 2001; Parmentier; 1999).

24. Of all the materials humanity may choose to dispose of in the sea, radioactive waste and functional but decommissioned reactors must be high on a list of indicators of such ‘lack of care’. e.g. Russian navy disposing of submarine reactors and nuclear waste in the Barents and Kara seas the exposure by Greenpeace in 2000 of a UK policy of the 1950s and 1960s to dump containers of nuclear waste near the Channel Islands – approximately 28,500 corroding containers were discovered, with this being just one of many dumpsites used before the banning of the practice. (see http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/media/press- releases/thousands-of-radioactive-waste-barrels-rusting-away- on-the-seabed). http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/media/press- releases/thousands-of-radioactive-waste-barrels-rusting-away- on-the-seabed

25. Chemical: hazards, toxicity and legacies Many hazardous substances cause chemical injury thousands of new chemicals introduced each year difficult to estimate long-term effects. Research hampered – violators often successful in presenting violations of laws and regulations as ‘accidents’ (Pearce and Tombs,1998).

26. legacies But chemical accidents as well as use in deliberately harmful ways – as in war – leave a legacy ….

27. Toxic Chemicals: the case of Dow and the legacy of Agent Orange Dow Chemical founded in 1947; merged with Union Carbide in 2001 (a company not without its own history of catastrophic accident) is a global operator producing chemicals and plastics for a variety of different markets. can call on more financial and legal resources than any agencies charged with the task of regulation (Katz, 2010)

28. Katz (2010) describes Dow Chemical involvement in production of herbicides and then utility as a military weapon investigated. “in the 1960’s Dow returned to developing these substances for use as the main ingredients in Agent Orange, the toxic defoliant used during the Vietnam War.”

29. Agent Orange Shipped in orange-striped barrels (– hence name?) Used between 1961 and 1971 in Vietnam War Aim to destroy food crops and jungle cover 20 million gallons sprayed (AO plus other herbicides) over ‘enemy territory’ in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Affected 8,600 square miles of jungle and cropland. (The Week,September 7, 2012: http://theweek.com/article/index/232816/agent-oranges-shameful-legacy)http://theweek.com/article/index/232816/agent-oranges-shameful-legacy

30. Effects and legacies In 1971 National Institutes of Health results showed chemical contaminant caused birth defects in lab animals – US ceased use. Immediate impacts and a lasting legacy - 100,000s civilians and soldiers (Vietnam and US) exposed. empty barrels used for water storage; affects waterways, soil, food chain etc Leukemia and blood disorders, heart disease, children with birth defects, e.g spina bifida, limb and bone defects etc. (The Week,September 7, 2012: http://theweek.com/article/index/232816/agent-oranges-shameful-legacy)http://theweek.com/article/index/232816/agent-oranges-shameful-legacy

31. And relevance today - from 2012-2016, US will spend $44 million: “to remove dioxin residues around the former U.S. airbase in Danang, where most Agent Orange barrels were stored. Some 2.5 million cubic feet of soil and sediment around the airport will be dug up and heated to very high temperatures, breaking down the toxic compounds. These are "the first steps to bury the legacies of our past," said U.S. Ambassador David Shear. The U.S. has identified two other former bases for cleanup, but Canadian and Vietnamese scientists say there are some two dozen "hot spots" where dioxin is particularly concentrated.”

32. Asbestos processing and pollution mining and then chemical and industrial processing of asbestos is an interesting case: in relation to primary extraction and processing it is potentially lethally harmful to workers, damaging to entire local communities as dust is distributed beyond production plants and drifts into surrounding environment; dust and fibres are being inhaled; and also settle on land and water.

33. dangerousness of asbestos was observed in Britain by Factory and Workshop Inspectorate officers as long ago as 1898 (Tweedale, 2000). properties and versatility of asbestos undoubtedly explain its long use and the denial of problems associated with production and deterioration.

34. 1990s - European Environmental Agency (EEA) estimated in 20 th C. around four million people died in Europe from asbestos-related illnesses. use of asbestos banned by the European Union in 1999, one hundred and one years after observation of its dangerousness. Yet the legacy is still with us … The Eternit case:

35. According to the European Industrial Relations Observatory (Rinolfi, 2012): The Eternit company opened its first asbestos production plant in Italy, the biggest in Europe, in 1907 in Piemonte. Scientifically shown and known since 1962 that asbestos dust causes asbestosis and malignant diseases... ‘Throughout the plants’ production life, an enormous quantity of asbestos dust was dispersed into the atmosphere through factory chimneys that had no protective filter. The countryside, communities and water supplies around the plants were contaminated. Within the plants, workers were given no protection and were never informed of the health risks.’ (emphasis added).

36. De-manufacturing  Dumping and Disposal – illegal / unauthorized depositing of waste is familiar  But major development of past couple of decades is not simply removing waste from developed world to developing world to dump there as worthless disposables –  but now re-locating it as resource-rich disposables to be de-manufactured and re-cycled  Re-cycling obviously ‘good’ but …

37.  but ‘de-manufacturing’ – means problems arise from the re-cycling of the waste produced through consumption by the wealthy with consequences of concern for the labouring and scavenging poor in China and India consequences = damage to the environment and damage to health and life (human and non-human)

38. E-waste / WEEE USA and developed nations consume huge amount of electronic goods Disposable but still valuable for content Recycling is environmentally good in principle and – usually – in practice but re-cycling for profit has produced a ‘boomerang industry’ – electronic items exported to China, de-manufactured, parts (rare earths, precious metals etc) etc re-used in new electronic goods – shipped back to advanced markets.

39. China Towns, factories and scrap-yards store, sort and process imported items Creates a formal workforce and a shadow scavenger workforce in informal economy picking over waste that’s left Both exploited Land and air polluted by processing and use of chemicals Effects on health of workers and communities (cancer links...)

40. ‘Elevated Blood Lead Levels of Children in Guiyu, an Electronic Waste Recycling Town in China’ Xia Huo et al, (2007) Environmental Health Perspectives, 115(7): 1113–1117. ‘Hazardous chemicals released from e-wastes through disposal or recycling processes Past studies have reported soaring levels of toxic heavy metals and organic contaminants in samples of dust, soil, river sediment, surface water, and groundwater of Guiyu Residents = high incidence of skin damage, headaches, vertigo, nausea, chronic gastritis, and gastric and duodenal ulcers, all of which may be caused by the primitive recycling processing of e-waste (Qiu et al. 2004). Lead is the most widely used = variety of health hazards >> enters biological systems via food, water, air, and soil. Children particularly vulnerable to lead poisoning...’

41. Discussion What we witness in these cases is ‘institutionalised insensitivity to right and wrong’ (Simon, 2000: 635) as an underpinning of environmental injustice.

42. Neo-liberal antagonism toward economic regulations argues these are costly and will reduce growth. In this view, ‘regulation’ is what Ian Taylor (1997) called a ‘condensed metaphor’ representing a broader (and unwelcome) critique And indeed, such an alternative critical view would argue that economic development that causes environmental degradation makes a negative contribution to the creation of wealth and reducing growth in a managed way is desirable (Ruggiero and South, 2013 a) – and could help shape a ‘green economy’

43. This would be an alternative to a system that allows oil, chemical and mining companies to take large public subsidies to produce profits yet leave behind eco-wreckage harming public health and suppressing eco-system vitality which then needs further public funding to mitigate and remedy And the disposable consumer products at the end of the chain of production generate huge amounts of e-waste and other toxic residues that then enter re-cycling and disposal chains.

44. Regulation? Multi-lateral environmental regulation agreements do exist e.g. Basel Convention on the control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal and Stockholm Convention or Persistent Organic Pollutants Plus EU law. But weak in implementation and impact; States and corporations may simply ignore these (e.g. France: case of de-commissioned aircraft carrier, the Clemenceau, and lack of clarity about asbestos on ship...)

45. One response: An international crime of Ecocide has been proposed >> could be a powerful preventative measure: those in superior /senior positions of responsibility would be at- risk of prosecution if responsible for taking decisions that lead to, support or finance mass damage and destruction Instead of “the polluter pays” (if caught), the new governing principle becomes “the polluter does not pollute” the protection of interests shifts from those few who have ownership to the many who are at risk of suffering. (Higgins, Short and South, 2013)

46. Supported by: Implementation and operationalisation of such a law could be supported by e.g extension of environmental courts and the establishment of an International Environmental Court. Such courts can bring focus and expertise to bear on complex and technical matters that are often unfamiliar when introduced and processed through traditional courts (Walters and Westerhuis, 2013; White, 2013).

47. conclusion The great global conundrums for the future are: how to address energy and resource deficits and address the problem of sustainability; and, how to cope with the unwanted discards of consumer society and mounting waste? The West continues to consume at a ferocious rate and developing nations are rapidly generating their own markets and demand.

48. conclusion In the midst of a global economic downturn, remedies are viewed almost entirely in terms of pushing up production and increasing the rate of consumption by applying ‘human genius’ to enterprise and exploitation. Instead human genius needs to turn to the question of how to decrease consumption and slow down growth… Ends.