Nigeria's agony dwarfs the Gulf oil spill. The US and Europe ignore it.

[redqueen]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/30/oil-spills-nigeria-niger-delta-shell

The Deepwater Horizon disaster caused headlines around the world, yet the people who live in the Niger delta have had to live with environmental catastrophes for decades


A ruptured pipeline burns in a Lagos suburb after an explosion in 2008 which killed at least 100 people. Photograph: George Esiri/Reuters


(snip)

The farther we travelled, the more nauseous it became. Soon we were swimming in pools of light Nigerian crude, the best-quality oil in the world. One of the many hundreds of 40-year-old pipelines that crisscross the Niger delta 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."

That was the Niger delta a few years ago, where, according to Nigerian academics, writers and environment groups, oil companies have acted with such impunity and recklessness that much of the region has been devastated by leaks.

(snip)

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.

(continued)

Much more at link.

Why isn't there more outrage about this?

[Catherina]

1. Because then we'd need to look at ourselves Rec'd

isntead of hissing like senseless snakes and making BP out to be the sole culprit.

I'm outraged. So outraged I dare not even put it into words.

Hypocrites. Selfish, greedy, disgusting, flag-waving, capitalist hypocrites. At what price profit? How many lives to subsidize the Western lifestyle?

[dipsydoodle]

2. Why isn't there more outrage about this?

Its quite simple. Its not the USA's yard. Reciprocally it helps explain why broadly speaking outside the USA nobody gives much of a fuck about the Gulf problem.

[redqueen]

4. The media in the UK are covering the spill in the Gulf, and this too.

We cover the Gulf, but this... ???

40% of that oil comes to us. I would consider that a reason we should hear about it, and talk about it.

[dipsydoodle]

26. The media in the UK..............

What you see on the internet are extracts from our papers and maybe our tv news too. You naturally focus on the subjects which interest you like this one which I believe to be important too. The world at large here in the UK and elsewhere doing the same don't necessarilly focus on such things as us here and neither necessarily does the whole of the US public.

:hi:

[Dr Morbius]

3. I am angry about this, and angry about most of what's been done to Africa.

But I don't know what to do. Africa's nations and people have been well and truly screwed for hundreds of years now. I had hopes Obama would change this, but at the moment I don't think he has the political capital to do anything about it. The right would certainly question his patriotism if he did anything new for Africa, since many of them already think he was born there.

It's just so fucked up.

More than I am angry, though, I am moved to tears. It's just another international crime committed against Africa.

[redqueen]

5. I'm sorry...

:pals:

[EFerrari]

6. Maybe because it's been going on a long, long time.

I first read about this situation when the torture president appointed Condi, maybe in The Nation or in that book, "Bush Women".

[redqueen]

9. Perhaps. But with all the talk about the spill in the Gulf,

this seems like a good time to try to raise awareness about it.

[EFerrari]

13. Definitely!

Iirc, the last I heard, protesters that had been peaceful for YEARS have started arming themselves to the teeth because they were being murdered by militias paid for by the oil company and with the government's full co-operation. Sort of like what has been happening in Colombia -- the government bows to the multi-national and helps recruit and staff death squads to keep the people in line. It's basically counter-insurgency.

[redqueen]

19. Yep.

Same old song and dance.

[GreenPartyVoter]

15. Agreed. We have reached a potential turning point. The question is whether or not we

make use of it, which will be hard since we will for the most part have to work against the media and governments and corporations. No wonder people get so beaten down and feel like there's nothing they can do to help. :(

[redqueen]

20. I think we could also stand to make some lifestyle changes.

So hopefully this will raise our awareness of the importance of considering the difference between needs and wants.

[GreenPartyVoter]

22. Definitely.

[NoNothing]

7. Where does this 40% figure come from?

It's not even close to that, according to the U.S. EIA: http://www.eia.doe.gov/pub/oil_gas/petroleum/data_publications/company_level_imports/current/import.html

It's more like 11%.

[ljm2002]

10. I read that 40% of our oil imports come from Nigeria...

...so that may be where it came from. Obviously, 40% of our imports is no necessarily 40% of what is produced there.

Sorry I do not have a link.

[NoNothing]

12. I think the journalist got it wrong.

This statement: "the Niger delta supplies 40% of all the crude the United States imports"
is wring. The Niger delta supplies about 11% of all the crude the United States imports.

However, this statement: "40% of the crude oil supplied by the Niger delta is imported by the United States"
is correct.

Nigeria is not our largest supplier, but the U.S. is Nigeria's largest customer.

The journalist got the statistic backwards.

[ljm2002]

27. Got it.

Well in either case we bear some responsibility for the resulting environmental catastrophe in Nigeria.

But of course it took the oil gusher in the Gulf to make us start paying attention (myself included, shamefully).

[redqueen]

11. You'd have to write the journalist and ask. (nt)

[malaise]

8. Why?

Dem 'is' black people brother'. They are in Africa. Africa and her people are there to be exploited by Tom, Dick, Harry and his brother. Don't yah know that?

[NoNothing]

14. And what are we supposed to do about it?

They have a nationalized oil industry. Do you think we can just go in there and order them to be a better government? Do you think they couldn't find other markets for the oil we buy in a heartbeat?

International politics is a little bit more subtle than can be described by accusing everyone of racism.

[malaise]

17. Really now

Governments that dislike corporations disappear with tasteless haste. Do you think a single coup in Africa was financed with money from Africa?

[NoNothing]

18. So, for the record:

Your position is that we should engineer a coup of Nigeria? Can I quote you on that?

[blindpig]

16. Kill Capitalism

For the love of humanity and the rest of nature we must kill it before it kills us.

[FLPanhandle]

21. Hell, we can barely get our own government to help us out.

Why would anyone think we could get Nigeria help?

[redqueen]

23. We should at least be aware of what we're contributing to.

Maybe awareness of how this one incident is business as usual for Nigerans will help motivate some people to consider changing their lifestyles. It won't solve the problem, but I doubt anyone could argue that we don't need to do it.

[Uzybone]

24. Drill THERE, Drill NOW

[Turbineguy]

25. The problem with blaming

the wrong people is that you can never solve the problem.

Nigeria is one seriously fucked up place and has been for years. They could manage that very well with or without Shell.