Niger Oil Spill

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16. June 2010 - 22:41

hejemonster

I just wondered if Thom had talked about this on the air. This seems incredibly important considering the disaster in the gulf.

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

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17. June 2010 - 1:13

polycarp2

From the link:Nigeria's agony

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

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

17. June 2010 - 1:56

meljomur

See that's the BIG difference

See that's the BIG difference between living in the first and third world.

Which is why am perplexed at the Libertarian mentality to push the US into the latter category.

17. June 2010 - 6:54

BcDct

It's a tragic situation, to

It's a tragic situation, to be sure. Not all of the blame falls on the shoulders of foreign oil companies, however.

Nigerian society and politics is riddled with corruption from top to bottom. At least some of these damages are caused by theives. Nigerian oil thieves include not only military, government and state officials, but also ordinary Nigerians:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/13/world/africa/13nigeria.html

As the article cited in the introductory post above notes:

Quote:

Shell, which works in partnership with the Nigerian government in the delta, says that 98% of all its oil spills are caused by vandalism, theft or sabotage by militants and only a minimal amount by deteriorating infrastructure. "We had 132 spills last year, as against 175 on average. Safety valves were vandalised; one pipe had 300 illegal taps. We found five explosive devices on one. Sometimes communities do not give us access to clean up the pollution because they can make more money from compensation," said a spokesman.

Niger Oil Spill

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