Oil - From Sea to Shining Sea
Posted: Thursday, June 03, 2010
by e
Dhammabucha Rocksprings Meditation
The people of Nigeria are dying. Not because of famine, not because of war, but because of oil pollution.
The Nigerian government in partnership with Shell Oil and BP Oil are raping the land and the Nigerian people. As government officials line their pockets with dirty oil money, big oil benefits from unrestricted drilling and pollution, destroying the country and its people, and killing off everything in sight.
As the crazed world thirst for oil doubles, then triples and quadruples, oil will become increasingly more difficult to find justifying, in some kind of stupid convoluted thinking, that drilling is justified wherever and however just to oil the wheels of a bloated military/industrial complex and feed the increasingly absurd energy demands of a world gone mad with excess.
Our seas will be filled to the brim with oil platforms, as far as the eye can see. And the water nothing but oceanic cesspools of slimy gunk, with beaches fenced off to protect the people from what was at one time such a beautiful experience. Now all dead. Now matching the consciousnesses of those who fought tooth and nail over any kind of green technology, any kind of restriction on carbon fuels. Those who lined their pockets with dirty oil money. Now smiling as they count their dirty money. And we let it happen.
In an article by John Vidal of the UK Observer, he describes the world wide terrorism of oil companies who have methodically thwarted all attempts of regulation of this very dirty, crooked industry.
He visited a village where one of the many hundreds of 40-year-old pipelines that crisscross the Niger delta in Nigeria had corroded and spewed oil for several months. "Forest and farmland were now covered in a sheen of greasy oil. Drinking wells were polluted and people were distraught. No one knew how much oil had leaked. "We lost our nets, huts and fishing pots," said Chief Promise, village leader of Otuegwe and our guide. "This is where we fished and farmed. We have lost our forest. We told Shell of the spill within days, but they did nothing for six months."
"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.
"If this Gulf accident had happened in Nigeria, neither the government nor the company would have paid much attention," said the writer Ben Ikari, a member of the Ogoni people. "This kind of spill happens all the time in the delta, and nothing is ever said or done about the pollution. "In fact, more oil is spilled from the Nigerian delta's network of terminals, pipes, pumping stations and oil platforms every year than has been lost in the Gulf of Mexico,"
Worse may be to come. One industry insider, who asked not to be named, said: "Major spills are likely to increase in the coming years as the industry strives to extract oil from increasingly remote and difficult terrains. Future supplies will be offshore, deeper and harder to work. When things go wrong, it will be harder to respond."
Judith Kimerling, a professor of law and policy at the City University of New York and author of Amazon Crude, a book about oil development in Ecuador, said: "Spills, leaks and deliberate discharges are happening in oilfields all over the world and very few people seem to care."
"We see frantic efforts being made to stop the spill in the US," said Nnimo Bassey, Nigerian head of Friends of the Earth International. "But in Nigeria, oil companies largely ignore their spills, cover them up and destroy people's livelihood and environments. The Gulf spill can be seen as a metaphor for what is happening daily in the oilfields of Nigeria and other parts of Africa.
"This has gone on for 50 years in Nigeria. People depend completely on the environment for their drinking water and farming and fishing. They are amazed that the president of the US can be making speeches daily, because in Nigeria people there would not hear a whimper," he said.
"It is impossible to know how much oil is spilled in the Niger delta each year because the companies and the government keep that secret. However, two major independent investigations over the past four years suggest that as much is spilled at sea, in the swamps and on land every year as has been lost in the Gulf of Mexico so far.
"One report, compiled by WWF UK, the World Conservation Union and representatives from the Nigerian federal government and the Nigerian Conservation Foundation, calculated in 2006 that up to 1.5m tons of oil 50 times the pollution unleashed in the Exxon Valdez tanker disaster in Alaska has been spilled in the delta over the past half century. Last year Amnesty calculated that the equivalent of at least 9m barrels of oil was spilled and accused the oil companies of a human rights outrage.
"According to Nigerian federal government figures, there were more than 7,000 spills between 1970 and 2000, and there are 2,000 official major spillages sites, many going back decades, with thousands of smaller ones still waiting to be cleared up. More than 1,000 spill cases have been filed against Shell alone.
"There is an overwhelming sense that the big oil companies act as if they are beyond the law. Bassey said: "What we conclude from the Gulf of Mexico pollution incident is that the oil companies are out of control.
"It is clear that BP has been blocking progressive legislation, both in the US and here. In Nigeria, they have been living above the law. They are now clearly a danger to the planet. The dangers of this happening again and again are high. They must be taken to the international court of justice."
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More commentsGreat article. It's amazing how big oil companies will go to get what they want. There should be more justice in this world!It starts with us. cut down on your purchases of oil and associated products. When we use oil, the price goes up.
Good article Ed. Oil is so overated....A friend made a point the other day about all the earthquakes and tidal waves etc...saying he thinks its because oil is used to lube the technonic plates and because we are taking it out,...they are not getting lubed that well.Money speaks and its hard to stamp out corruption,Spot on Craig, money is our religion. Never seen a U-haul at a funeral. Can't take it with you. What is really important?
Good article Rock- It seems we have unending clarion calls concerning the horrific disasters around the world, but a derth of solutions that we "little powerless people " can realistically put into affect.What can we as individuals do to gain power collectively over these situations? Those are the things I think about;they are the underlying cause of every revolution that has ever taken place on earth. Thanks for an interesting article- Always- EllaThank you so much Ella. Everything begins and ends with us. When you change yourself, magically the world changes too.
It always amazes me the things that have long since been forgotten about or they no longer bring to the surface. Thanks for a very informative article E.It's all about being informed with the truth, not bumper sticker lies. The truth is getting harder and harder to differentiate, but can be done. Thanks Linda.
I had no idea this happened to nigeria. I was stationed at Keesler AFB in Biloxi MS. And I have to say its a very humid area to want to live or vacation in. I can only imagine how dificult it will be for people in northern LA,MS,AL,FL to visit the coast rather than vacation elsewhere. Halting the little economy boost of tourism in the south will unfortunately affect a lot of peoples lives.Very sensitive thought Jose about others and how they will be affected by BP. Thank you.
This was great! I actually didn't know about the oil in Nigeria. Thank you for the infomation it was a real eye opener.Thanks Angela. I'm afraid all we hear about are inconsequential cultural ramblings that do nothing for us in the long run (gay marriage etc.). Unfortunately, we won't do anything to stop the greed and corruption until it gets to the point of war. It's so sad that people are caught up with frivolous things in their lives, and then wonder how a war can happen. The roots of an oil war are right here right now as we shrug our shoulders and worry about the next movie we will see as we consume more and more carbon fuels. Green consciousness is just for suckers, as the large corporations say, cementing in their dirty profits. .
Thnak you for writing this informative piece. This is the News that people don't get to read about often. Perhaps the gigantic oil spill that is now threatening USA's shores wakes up the world to this threat. Sadly it takes something like this to help people notice what is going on every day elsewhere.Thank you. Watch the oil company commercials and then contrast them with this information. We all need to not only wake up, but to stop using carbom based fuels. We must stop. If we don't, the agony and grief we will feel in the future will be horrendous. Not only will our earth become poisoned, but we will have a nuclear war right here on our soil, because of oil.
Its true that some of the countries who are richest with natural resources are exploited somewhere, either the people or the economy or by the external affairs. Its sad to know about the Nigerian People which are really facing such a down situation.Exploitation by other names are big business and unregulated capitalism. Thanks Craig.
It's a shame what big governments are letting oil companies get away with. They should be stopped.They are in cahoots. Short sighted political gains always trump long term societal benefits. Thanks Dan.
I think it would be better if governments that are high on the oil drilling activities should be enacted with an international law and safety measures..something like U.N.Great idea Randy, but conservatives hate the UN. Wonder why?
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