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....

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...

Waxman details How Oil Companies deal with Real Risks

by jamess


Most Companies face the common dilemma of how to best minimize their Risks, while somehow, managing to make a Profit. It's what makes 'Starting a Business' a Risky proposition for most folks -- there are few "sure fire" deals in the Business World.
This little "constraint" is apparently not much of a factor, in the High Tech world of deepwater drilling, however.  They have simply managed to 'paper-over' any Real Risks they incur for decades now.  Oil CEO's are accustom to seeing it, as an Easy Money Gig.

Their little "risk management" charade has been coming out lately, in the Congressional Inquiries been held by Henry Waxman.
"Rubber Stamp" may take on a whole new meaning, given the way these Exec's seem to like to 'copy each others Homework' ...


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....

The oil spills in Nigeria, where we get 40% of our oil.

by quantumspin

In the referenced "The Guardian" article, Nigeria's 600+ oil fields supply about 40% of all crude the U.S. imports.  What is the 'spill status' like in Nigeria, in specific, the Niger Delta?  The article spells it out.

continued at Daily Kos....

Salazar Delays Arctic Drilling!

by Senor Unoball

In light of the Gulf gusher, the Obama administration is apparently backing down from proposed oil drilling that was slated to begin this summer in the Arctic Ocean. Shell had proposed exploratory drilling in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas; this drilling is now said to be on hold for at least a year. This is great news for environmentalists and those who care for the Arctic ecosystems!

continued at Daily Kos....

UPDATE: Oil Action - Let's Not Kill the Arctic Too!

by greendem

If you are like me, you are feeling completely depressed and hopeless about the situation in the Gulf of Mexico. And new pictures like this are just heartbreaking. The yellow oil containment booms being easily overtopped by slime are starting to look more like police Crime Scene Tape to me. There was a crime committed against the USA and our Planet.  Big Oil and 20 years of Conservative deregulation were responsible. What can we do? I have been doing some research, and this seems like a start. By July the Obama administration needs to make a decision about whether it will allow Shell Oil to begin installing oil rigs off America's Arctic coast.

continued at Daily Kos....