The final response worksites at Donges refinery were completed on 4 July. The monitoring of the environmental impact of this pollution on the estuarine environment continues. Following the clean-up operations, significant regrowth of the reed beds has been observed, on banks that had been heavily polluted over several kilometres, as shown in the photographs below.

From 21 to 25 July, the team leader and an engineer from Cedre’s Contingency Planning Department visited the port of Le Havre as part of the elaboration of a contingency plan in case of pollution for the Total refinery in Normandy. This assignment was intended to assess the risks connected to loading/unloading operations for petroleum products on the wharfs located on the Tancarville canal, to make an inventory of the response equipment existing onsite, to recap on the different possible scenarios and to collect the environmental, economic and technical data needed to draw up this plan. The mission was also the opportunity to promote the synergies between the Normandy refinery and the local stakeholders liable to be involved in the management of response operations implemented following an oil spill: administrations, port autonome du Havre, fire service etc. The information gathered will help to establish an initial version of this plan which will be presented to the managers of the Normandy refinery in the last week of September.

The Prefect of the Loire Atlantique called upon Cedre to assist the departmental fire service in the preparation of a response guide for pollution of the Loire, through return on experience from the spill at the Donges refinery in spring 2008. A meeting was held at Cedre in mid July, involving four fire officers and six engineers from Cedre, present in the Loire Atlantique area during the Donges incident, in a bid to produce a first review document for September 2008 and to establish an action plan and a strategy for the future. This meeting was also the chance for the delegation of fire officers to visit Cedre’s premises.

On 18 July, the Minister of Justice and the Secretary of State for Ecology arrived in Brest for a visit on the theme of environmental responsibility and the corresponding government bill. During this day, they took part in a meeting intended to inform and exchange with professionals of the sea at the high court on operational discharge at sea, and the monitoring and conviction of such practices. Cedre was represented by its director.

In the wake of a series of legal battles moving from court to court (see newsletters n°78, 104), the enormous 5 billion dollars punitive damages originally awarded for the pollution caused by the grounding of the Exxon Valdez in Alaska came to what seems to be a conclusion on 25 June, 19 years after the incident, in the US Supreme Court.The amount, already reduced to 2.5 billion by a succession of appeals, was deemed excessive by the Supreme Court and cut to 507.5 million dollars, a tenth of the original award, by a 5-3 vote. Through this ruling, the Supreme Judges aimed to bring the compensation for this pollution in line with the prevailing situation in international maritime transport. Nevertheless, with 2.1 billion dollars of clean-up expenses, a civil settlement of 900 million dollars and 303 million dollars paid by Exxon to private parties, the bill for this spill for the Exxon group, totalling over 3.8 billion dollars, still holds by far the world record,

The European Union Marine Strategy Framework Directive entered into force on 15 July. It represents the marine environment counterpart of the Water Framework Directive for inland waters. The marine directive sets out a roadmap for the member States in order to achieve sound ecological status in the marine environment by 2020 at the latest. This sound ecological status will be determined by common indicators, which will be published in 2012. Some of these indicators will be fundamental in establishing the return to a situation of good status in an area affected by major pollution. The Cedre newsletter will closely follow negotiations between the concerned parties.