Oil Spills we don’t hear about
Posted on 06. Aug, 2010 by Leon Kennedy in Other
America and it’s media’s preoccupation with the Deepwater oil spill this summer is justified given the size and the ecological impact of the spill. What is not justified is that large scale oil spills that have been going on for decades in another part of the world are completely ignored by Americans and the American media.
It has been reported that since the 1960′s an oil spill the size of the Exxon Valdez’s has been a weekly event in the Niger Delta. 40 years worth of these weekly Valdez size spills is enough to make BP’s “largest oil spill in American history” pale in comparison. Unfortunately, although many Americans may not be aware of it, American history is not the only history on earth, and Nigeria’s history is without a doubt filled with oil spills that threaten people’s basic human rights such as access to food and clean water. Think about that next time you hear about Deepwater’s impact on U.S. resort properties.
So, why doesn’t America bother to concern itself with oil spills in other lands? “Problems associated with oil production are usually invisible to those of us who consume vast quantities. We don’t see how dirty it is. [The gulf] is a more extreme version of daily events in Nigeria, where the oil companies have had a complete and total disregard for the environmental implications of their actions.” answers CUNY School of Law professor Rebecca Bratspies.
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