NAIROBI, Kenya — In a landmark decision that opens the door for affected communities to seek accountability for decades of alleged environmental harm, Kenya’s High Court ruled Thursday that a high-stakes class action lawsuit against global energy giant BP can proceed to trial. The legal challenge centers on claims of widespread toxic contamination of northern Kenya’s drinking water from negligent waste disposal practices during 1980s oil exploration activities.
The suit was first brought in February by 299 local petitioners to the Land and Environment Court in Isiolo, the regional administrative hub for the affected area in northern Kenya. At the heart of the allegations is the claim that waste generated during oil exploration operations, including hazardous radioactive materials, was improperly handled, resulting in severe and long-lasting damage to local ecosystems and public health.
The exploration work at the center of the dispute was originally conducted by U.S.-based Amoco Corporation, which drilled multiple dry wells in the Chalbi Desert near the remote communities of Kargi and Kalachi in the 1980s. BP acquired all of Amoco’s global assets and operations, including its Kenyan exploration holdings, in a 1998 merger, leaving BP as the primary corporate defendant in the current case.
Court documents detail damning allegations: contaminants including radioactive radium isotopes, arsenic, lead, and nitrates were allegedly dumped in unlined, uncovered pits rather than being disposed of according to regulated safety standards. Over decades, these toxins have leached into the region’s groundwater, the primary source of drinking water for local residents and their livestock. The petition claims this contamination has directly caused the death or illness of hundreds of local people and thousands of area animals. More than 500 resident deaths are linked to cancers and other chronic conditions tied to exposure to heavy metals and carcinogens in the contaminated water supply.
Beyond the corporate defendant, the lawsuit also names multiple Kenyan national government agencies — including the ministries and regulatory bodies overseeing environment, water resources, mining, and public health — accusing them of negligence for failing to intervene and address the contamination even after receiving clear evidence of the public health risk.
BP has not issued any public statement addressing the allegations, and did not respond to requests for comment from media ahead of the court’s ruling. The case is scheduled to resume for further proceedings in May.
This reporting, part of the Associated Press’ global climate and environmental coverage, receives financial support from multiple private philanthropic foundations. The AP maintains full editorial independence over all its reporting, and public details of its partnership standards, funding sources, and covered areas are available on AP.org.