Oil spill villagers blocked from petitioning by gov't
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Local residents of Dalian, Liaoning Province affected by July's oil spill say they were prevented by local government workers from attempting to petition authorities in Beijing for compensation.
Shao Deshan, head of Hezuizi village in Dalian, came to Beijing with about 20 other local residents on September 2 to visit the State Bureau for Letters and Calls, the agency that receives citizens' complaints.
Shao says his group was intercepted by workers from the Dalian government's Beijing office as soon as they arrived at Beijing Railway Station, the Century Weekly reported.
An explosion rocked an oil pipeline on July 16, triggering an adjacent smaller pipeline to explode near Dalian Xingang Port. Both pipelines are owned by China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC).
Shao says he and three other villagers were then taken to the Beijing headquarters of the CNPC, where the head of the complaint office made an oral promise to compensate villagers as long as the local government finalized the details.
Shao said the village, which depends on sea farming, suffered significant losses.
"Up to now, no government officials have come to the village to check on the pollution, while economic losses in the village are estimated at more than 80 million yuan (US$11.8 million)," he told the Global Times.
The Fishery Bureau of the Ministry of Agriculture said in July that the spill had not caused obvious damage to nearby sea farming, but added that there could be an impact if the pollution spread, the Century Weekly reported.
Shao said he had tried to talk to Dalian government officials but failed.
Xia Jun, a lawyer specializing in environmental pollution cases, said the villagers should find a qualified institution to identify the losses.
The publicity department of the Dalian government could not be reached for comment. Chen Lianzeng, deputy director of the State Oceanic Administration, said last month that ocean ecological environment evaluation work of the oil spill affected areas had begun.
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