Niger Delta: Shell Exxonerated! Bloody Pardoned if you like.

by LaFeminista

A report by the UN has indicated that Shell is only responsible for 10% of the 9 million barrels that have seeped and oozed over the Niger Delta for the last 50 years. This means they are all but exonerated from having to pay one penny towards a clean-up and the Nigerian government is responsible for the rest. Since the government is corrupt and has received billions in oil revenue and millions in kickbacks from Shell this environmental catastrophe will not end anytime soon. 40% of all the crude that comes from the delta and its 606 rigs is exported to the US; a rotting infrastructure is plain for all to see.

The UN report was paid for by Shell.

The Nigerian government is paid for by the Oil Industry.

The $10m (£6.5m) investigation by the UN environment programme (UNEP), paid for by Shell, will say that only 10% of oil pollution in Ogoniland has been caused by equipment failures and company negligence, and concludes that the rest has come from local people illegally stealing oil and sabotaging company pipelines.

continued at Daily Kos....

Gulf Recovery: It's a CRUDE CRUDE world

by citisven

Now that the hole in the ocean floor has allegedly been plugged and no more oil is gushing into the Gulf waters, the time has come to assess the damage and determine how to best allocate money and resources to minimize negative long term effects on the natural ecosystem, wildlife, and coastal residents and industries.

As with many environmental catastrophes, much of their impact cannot be truly measured until years later and in-depth studies of a complex web of cause and effect. Therefore, I think it's premature for either doomsday scenarios or celebrations of nature's instant miracle cleanup. What we can and should do, however, is to remember that the BP gusher in the Gulf and all its yet to be determined effects was not an isolated incident: as long as we don't fundamentally change the way we use energy, these "accidents" are going to continue to happen.  

continued at Daily Kos...

EcoJustice: It's more than BP.

by rb137

And it's more than the Gulf of Mexico. Big Oil is plundering land and destroying lives all over the world -- and as bad as the Gulf spill is, it is the tip of an iceberg compared to damage across the globe. The photo at left is a river in the Niger delta that is contaminated by oil -- where over 9 million barrels of oil have been spilled in the last 50 years.

In Nigeria's Agony Dwarfs Gulf Oil Spill, John Vidal reports that majors spills are a daily occurrence in Nigeria, which has 606 oil fields, and supplies 40% of the crude imported by the United States. In fact, more oil is spilled from the Nigerian Delta's terminals, pipes, pumping stations, and oil platforms every year than has been lost in the Gulf of Mexico.

Photo credit, Getty Images.

continued at Daily Kos...

Orange Satan says "WTF! I mean seriously WTF!"

by LaFeminista

"We welcome Judge Feldman’s decision to lift the moratorium on deepwater operations in the Gulf of Mexico.
"The administration acted appropriately in its immediate steps to inspect every rig in the Gulf following the Deepwater Horizon explosion. Those inspections were necessary to assure Americans that offshore operations were safe and subject to appropriate oversight.

"In addition, the oil and natural gas industry took immediate steps to review practices and equipment to ensure safety and environmental protection, through the formation of two industry-wide task forces. The task forces provided important insights to the Department of Interior during its earliest examination of Gulf operations.

continued at Daily Kos....

Niger Delta: Exxon-Mobile, Shell, BP: Oil for Nothing

by LaFeminista

It goes to show the economic might of the US and the advantage of having a relatively uncorrupted government and legal system when dealing with industrial pollution on a catastrophic scale.

The US government is demanding BP set aside $20 billion in a fund for the clean up of the Gulf blow-out.

Say we take the worst case of 100,000 barrels a day or around 12,500 tons a day.

This gives a total of 690,000 tons since the spill began, low end estimates are around a quarter of that say 175,000 tons. Horrifying to say the least no matter which figure you take, and it may well destroy BP as a company, however:

This pales into insignificance compared to the Niger Delta where significant environmental vandalism has been going on for nearly 50 years.

In 2006 alone approximately 1,500,000 tons were spilt into the delta.

Nigerian sweet crude probably the best there is provides around 40% of our oil requirement in the US.

The whole oil pipework system, hundreds of miles of it, are rotting and falling apart. Drilling is moving towards more isolated and deeper areas, thus compounding the problem.

And you know what?

Nobody really gives a damn.

Compensation so far $0, if you exclude buying the Nigerian Government.

continued at Daily Kos....