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Tip of the Day
Keep eggs out of the fridge to save energy when cooking them
Nigeria faces Gulf-sized oil spills every year
photo by Sosialistisk Ungdom – SU (source: Flickr Creative Commons)
Large spills in Nigeria are routine, and oil companies go largely unpunished for destroying the local environment as well as poisoning the human population.
Some of the damage is due to actions by rebel groups and criminals, who attack pipelines, but rusty old pipes continually leak oil, while gas flares both waste a valuable natural resource as well as release toxic pollution and greenhouse gasses.
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.
–Observer
Neither the Nigerian government nor the oil companies demonstrate concern for the environment or the people suffering in this region, considered the oil pollution capital of the world. Environmental and human rights activists claim that hundreds of spills happen yearly in the Niger delta.
Deepwater Horizon may have exceed Exxon Valdez, but within a few years in Nigeria offshore spills from four locations dwarfed the scale of the Exxon Valdez disaster many times over. Estimates put spill volumes in the Niger delta among the worst on the planet, but they do not include the crude oil from waste water and gas flares. Companies such as Shell continue to avoid independent monitoring and keep key data secret.
– Ben Amunwa, London-based oil watch group Platform
Read the entire article ‘Nigeria’s agony dwarfs the Gulf oil spill. The US and Europe ignore it’ by John Vidal in the Observer.
Tags: disaster, environment, Exxon, gas flares, Gulf, human, Niger Delta, Nigeria, Observer, oil, Pollution, Shell, spill, Valdez
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Thanks for your comment, Pricilla. Good points!
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This further demonstrates that the oil companies cannot be trusted to self regulate. It’s not even some complicated engineering solution like plugging the Gulf, it’s rusty pipes, war, crime and wanton waste.
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As for cars, I haven’t had one in 10 years and I don’t plan on getting one. I consume and pollute enough without one
In The Age of Stupid, there was some coverage of Nigeria if I remember correctly. It’s terrible to see how those big oil companies are abusing the people and the environment. Even though they could provide every household with gas there, they prefer to BURN the gas when it comes out of the pipes!!!! It’s the best economical solution for them. The worst part is, if you are going to use the oil beneath the soil, give financial benefit to the people that actually OWN the soil. Here it’s just a handful of locals and the big companies that make money and prosper. The people that have walked those grounds for many centuries are just abused and so is their land.
But let’s not forget we all agree it’s terrible, but have you left your car in the garage lately because of it?? That is the main issue here. They are feeding us oil and we are just buying it. As long as we will accept that we are all responsible for such disasters!