"In fact, more oil is spilled from the delta's network of terminals, pipes, pumping stations and oil platforms every year than has been lost in the Gulf of Mexico, the site of a major ecological catastrophe caused by oil that has poured from a leak triggered by the explosion that wrecked BP's Deepwater Horizon rig last month.
That disaster, which claimed the lives of 11 rig workers, has made headlines round the world. By contrast, little information has emerged about the damage inflicted on the Niger delta. Yet the destruction there provides us with a far more accurate picture of the price we have to pay for drilling oil today."
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"With 606 oilfields, the Niger delta supplies 40% of all the crude the United States imports and is the world capital of oil pollution. Life expectancy in its rural communities, half of which have no access to clean water, has fallen to little more than 40 years over the past two generations. Locals blame the oil that pollutes their land and can scarcely believe the contrast with the steps taken by BP and the US government to try to stop the Gulf oil leak and to protect the Louisiana shoreline from pollution."
Oh, and those "blowout preventers" are famous for failing on a constant basis, and officials lied to cover it up.
This past week I have been thinking about if we only knew how much pollution we dump in the oceans each year. The voices of the poor blacks in Nigeria and the voices of sea life are all muted by our busy narcissistic lives.
ReplyDeleteJoe, great post, and thanks for the heads up on Niger.
ReplyDeleteAccording to Oklahoma's Congressman Tom Cole, these aren't oil spills they are "acts of God." Trying to figure out what church he goes to ... I guess he prays at the altar of capitalism.
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