Nigeria has oil spill that's been going on for over 50 years!

Originally posted by seanizle
Very sad indeed. Just goes to show that there truly is hell on earth; its just no where near 1st world countries.

I would also like to draw everyone's attention to the live feed of the leak, compliments of BP and CNN. It would appear now that there ARE flames spewing out with the oil and gas. Maybe me and a lot of other people are just seeing things, if so can someone please explain what exactly we are looking at?

After I read this comment I went for a look, and I see them too.
I wonder what would happen in the event any of these strange flames, hot enough to manifest under a mile of water..............managed to make it to the surface?

I don't think it's a good thing.

its a sad thing and i feel that goverment there should take a note from hugo chavez and take control of every well in there country and nationalize there oil production. but they won't so big oil keeps raping them its almost as sad as when dubeers had diamonds found in nigeria classified as conflict diamonds by un to keep nigeria from competing with them for diamond sales. they just can't get a break . British petroleum leased the rig they hired the employees on the rig so its there fault i am sorry for all you British who had your retirement invested with bp. but saying bp isn'tresponsible is like saying the vatican isn't responsible when a one of there priests rapes a bunch of children and then is relocated to avoid prosecution and liability.

I made a thread last night on this exact topic.....

The oil spills you never heard of

Seeing as we're on the subject, there's also a huge problem with oil spills in the amazon basin. Google it, there are hundreds of small spills every year that add up to a nightmare.

Anywhere there is oil production there are oil spills. The oil companies view them on the basis of a cost-benefit analysis and the cost to the environment doesn't particularly factor into it. If the cost of stopping the spill is higher than the value of the oil that is likely to be spilled, they let the spills happen.

As far as I can see, the best way to stop it happening is to enforce fines which make it worth their while to avoid spillage. Not that it'll happen, oil companies own almost every government that it's worth owning.

Originally posted by JohnPhoenix
We need to fix our problems at home.

I think you'll find that the oceans of the world are all the same mass of water. Strangely enough, pollution doesn't tend to respect international borders.

Yeah, Americans don't care. We're just the most giving nation in the world, but we don't care.

www.usatoday.com...

in particular:

"Gaudiani said Americans give twice as much as the next most charitable country, according to a November 2006 comparison done by the Charities Aid Foundation. In philanthropic giving as a percentage of gross domestic product, the U.S. ranked first at 1.7%. No. 2 Britain gave 0.73%, while France, with a 0.14% rate, trailed such countries as South Africa, Singapore, Turkey and Germany."

So all you USA haters- get over it. Freely elected, and truly capitalistic nations give. Since we are going away from these principles, it will decline, so good luck with your worldly issues.

Now to the subject at hand. The Nigerian spill is often overlooked in the United States because.....it's not in the United States. People will always be most interested in what happens behind them. I'm in New York, and while people are upset about the Gulf of Mexico situation, it's nothing compared to what people in the coast are experiencing. It's also not a one time disaster, which would inspire media driven coverage with exciting images to show on the news. It's also a complex issue- many of the oil companies claim the spills are caused by looting and vandalism, so they deny responsibility. It also hasn't caused a collapse in standard of living. If Nigeria had been a glowing community and suddenly collapsed into third world status, it would have been more newsworthy.

In the end, it's all about human nature. Americans are no different than the rest of the world. Do you think North Koreans or Iraqis or Germans are all home crying and working on solutions to the Nigerian issue? No. Get over yourselves.

Originally posted by Pabama
So all you USA haters- get over it. Freely elected, and truly capitalistic nations give. Since we are going away from these principles, it will decline, so good luck with your worldly issues.

Most of the charity either goes to domestic programs which are government funded in more civilized countries or military foreign aid, basically nukes for Israel.

Hardly impressive.

Completely untrue: most contributions from Americans go to religious organizations.

reply to post by henriquefd


This is pretty nasty to say the least and its been going on for 50 years you say????

Just goes to show in even more detail that big corps just don't care about the pollution of this planet.... only about the cash in their pockets!!!!

Flagged!

Originally posted by Pabama

In the end, it's all about human nature. Americans are no different than the rest of the world. Do you think North Koreans or Iraqis or Germans are all home crying and working on solutions to the Nigerian issue? No. Get over yourselves.

Yet so many Americans are so quick to blame the British for their problem in the gulf right now because the company responsible are called British Petroleum.

Maybe all companies should be forced to prefix their company names with their legislative country when working abroad.

That would then mean the majority of the Nigerian spills and failure to clean up were due to American Exxon.

I hope this shuts up all the people saying that the human race will become extinct due to this oil spill.

The Nigerian governmental authorities just do not have the same 'clout' as the president of the world's economically alpha nation. If they did, the Nigerian people may find the confidence to petition government to intervene in commercial operations. Also, Nigerian authorities enjoy a reputation for corruptness. How much of any clean up funds would actually be left for clean up after each 'layer' had taken it's cut? (read Ben Okri's The Famished Road).

The large multi-national corporations do not care who's land is raped and laid waste; the people left to live as best they can in the ravaged landscape.

It is a sad fact that only Obama has been able to broker a deal with the corporations involved in defence of America's interests. It would be interesting if he takes this further and brings the boards or CEO's of the Amercan registered corporations involved in Bhopal et al to account.

Obama had an easy win with this one (the Gulf spill clean up negotiations). The British have a reputation for fair-play but would BP have been so acquiescent had the pressure not come from the president of the USA?



[edit on 17/6/2010 by teapot]

reply to post by idmonster


"Yet so many Americans are so quick to blame the British for their problem in the gulf right now because the company responsible are called British Petroleum."

Foolish to do so. Americans worked on that rig. American, Swiss and Japanese companies were involved with that rig. I believe also a South Korean company as well? Further, water is water, and being fluid, at some point it's going to come into contact with everyone else's water.

Originally posted by NightFlyer96
I think I know why this was neglected - in the U.S they only care about what happens in their hemisphere - not about what happens in the rest of the world. look at the chile and Haiti earthquakes, they made such a big deal about Haiti, yet when the chile earthquake happens it was only on the news for about 2 days

The Chile Earthquake, bad as it was, was well handled by the Chileans themselves. The damage was no where near as extensive in the first place because they apparently have some pretty darn good building codes down there. What damage and problems they did have weren't beyond their own means to handle. Aid was offered and my friend who does disaster relief was on standby to go down there if necessary, but it wasn't needed. Instead, he rotated back to Haiti for a second time and helped run a field hospital.

I don't think that holds true. I remember the efforts for the Tsunami as well, and other disasters that have occurred. Haiti was particularly bad. My friend who worked there, Katrina, the Asian Tsunami, the Pakistan quake, the Grenada hurricane and Ground Zero on 9/11 says Haiti was by far the worst of them all.

Also, Haiti's situation has been more closely intertwined with that of the U.S. for a very long time. There are a LOT of Haitians living in the U.S. and there is, quite frankly, a lot of burden for the problems that country suffered in the 20th Century that rests with the U.S. There is some real responsibility to try and do something to make right on our part, I would say.

Originally posted by Pabama
Completely untrue: most contributions from Americans go to religious organizations.

That's the tax avoidance aspect of "american charity", preachers that are allowed to call their income "charitable donations" to avoid tax. If you give money to Scientology, you've made a charitable donation to a religious organization. I wouldn't boast about it.

But never mind, it's off topic, if you want to debate how charitable the US is, start a thread.

Originally posted by idmonster

Yet so many Americans are so quick to blame the British for their problem in the gulf right now because the company responsible are called British Petroleum.

Maybe all companies should be forced to prefix their company names with their legislative country when working abroad.

That would then mean the majority of the Nigerian spills and failure to clean up were due to American Exxon.

Who is blaming the British? I do not know a single damn American who blames Britain or the British people for the mess. We blame a multinational corporation!

And no! The Nigerian oils spills are not the fault of just 'American' Exxon. Do not forget: 'Dutch' Shell, 'French' Elf, 'Italian' Agip

But none of this really matters. No a single one of these multinational corporation owe any allegiance to any flag. Their only allegiance is to their profits.

[edit on 17-6-2010 by Imperium Americana]

Originally posted by ladyinwaiting
This is one of the most sickening things I've read lately.

I agree. As soon as we deal with our own mess, the world has to come together and solve this problem. Even if it means the oil companies have to "donate" men and equipment to get it done.

We need to be as noisy about this one as we have our own, until it's done.

This is appalling, infuriating and depressing all at once.

What WE as the populace NEED to do is remove the Elitist from the planet period. Once we remove the stupidity of greed and power, we can all live in peace and harmony. NEVER AGAIN should we let a few take control of the things OWNED by the many. ALL natural resources belong to YOU and I, the sovereign people of the planet. We use them as we need. Had we listened to Tesla and Einstein, we wouldn't be in this mess and we wouldn't need all that oil period.

So we all need to come together and take back what is ours, our Dominion and our Divinity from this pyschopathic megalomaniacs, they must cease to exist forever!!

reply to post by henriquefd

I was looking for Google Earth coordinates to view spills and ran across this article...

"Lagos — THE nation, last Christmas day, witnessed another oil pipeline disaster where scores of citizens were incinerated in a fie [fire] out-break as they scooped refined petroleum from vandalised pipes.

Photographs of the charred remains of those unfortunate Nigerians at Ikate, a Lagos village, were just like those from a familiar hell. Familiar, because Nigerians have viewed those scenes repeatedly in the recent past. Which raises the questions: Why do Nigerians persist in risking life and limbs in endeavours like scooping refined petroleum products from breached pipelines? How come that these vandalised pipelines are left to drip until they form pools that citizens are tempted to scoop from for gain?"
allafrica.com

Still don't have coordinates.

It's truly saddening to me that there are ecological, humanitarian, and biological crises throughout the world - many as old as the one cited in this thread - that many would never even consider raising their voices about.

I do not agree with those who would seek to use this as justification to downplay or diminish the suffering caused by the spill in the Gulf. Suffering is suffering and damage is damage in my opinion. One person and one animal needlessly made to suffer (or perish) as a result of human mistakes is too many by my standards. But it is indeed saddening that this spill is receiving more attention than any others.

It's frustrating to feel so powerless, as well. It feels as if all I'm personally, directly able to do, is "care." I don't have much money. I don't have a car. I'm not employed at present. So all I can essentially do is "care." (For all the good that does, of course.)

I'm asking a serious question here. I asked this about the spill in the Gulf as well, but no one replied (as seems to be par for the course with respect to the majority of my ATS posts, unfortunately.)

What can I tangibly, immediately do to help ameliorate things like the massive catastrophe in Nigeria being referenced in this thread? Is there NOTHING I can do?

reply to post by AceWombat04


Hm. I wonder if it would help to start sending the links of the Nigerian spill to ExxonMobil, and demanding action. Just let them know we know.

Maybe try to get this on the MSM.

Like another poster said, the environment doesn't understand about boundaries. This involves all of us.

I think I know...that MSM shops on ATS for stories and ideas. Maybe they will see this thread.

Edit to add: I really liked many things you said. I mean, are our pelicans more important than their pelicans? Our tables moreso than theirs?

[edit on 6/17/2010 by ladyinwaiting]

Originally posted by UniToxic
Ah, the link will not work because look what word is in the word Nigeria. It is of course filtered on this website.

That might be the case if this was happening in Niggeria instead of Nigeria.
The link doesn't work for me either.

However terrible the Niger Delta spill and its global neglection is - the Gulf leak has the potential to outrun it in no time, spewing the amount of the Exxon Valdez roughly every four days. In about 35 days it will be equally big and growing.

It's far more acute and there's a good chance it becomes chronic as well - if it doesn't get fixed fairly quick.

Who to blame is irrelevant at this moment in time.