Oil in the Niger Delta was first discovered in 1956 and since then has been an issue for both the people of the region and for the environment. The numerous spills along with the civil unrest that it has caused all play into the unstable conditions of the Niger Delta today. With the discovery of oil in this region came the hope of economic development. We now see, almost 60 years later, that it has done nothing but create environmental, economic and social problems for people in the region (Pegg, 2013). I am going to be examining how the depletion of economic opportunity and the destruction of the environment are closely tied as a result of the Niger Delta oil spills.
One of the most significant social, economic and environmental problems in the region has been the destruction of local economies, most importantly, fishing. Before the oil spills in the Niger Delta, approximately 80% of the people in the region fished for a living, either as a full time occupation or as supplementary income (Pegg, 2013). Due to the highly polluted waters in the Niger Delta, to fish for a living now is both highly unrealistic and extremely dangerous. The inability of families to fish for a living has a direct correlation to the decrease in education levels in the area. Schools not only receive little to no money, but in order for families to support themselves it often requires each member, even children, to contribute to the family income. This often results in children being removed from school at a young age (Pegg, 2013).
Lack of education, coupled with limited access to economic opportunity in the area, leave people with little to no opportunities for work. The legal alternatives include construction work, the dying of mangrove wood and...
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...which they live. We see these cases time and time again around the world. The extraction of oil in the Niger Delta has proven to be disastrous both ecologically and for the livelihoods of the inhabitants of this area.
Fidelis, Allen. "The Enemy Within: Oil in the Niger Delta." World Policy Journal 29.4 (2012): 46-53. EBSCOhost. Web. 8 Apr 2014 .
Goodman, Amy. "Nigerian Protesters Demand Shell Clean Up Massive Oil Spill." Democracy Now! Pacifica Network. New York, New York, 3 Jan. 2012. Television.
Pegg, Scott, and Zabbey Nenibarini. "Oil and Water: The Bodo Spills and the Destruction of Traditional Livelihood Structures in the Niger Delta." Community Development Journal 48.3 (2013): 391-405. EBSCOhost. Web. 8 Apr. 2014..
Larabee, John, and Richard Price. "Tide of Troubles has Fish Industry Reeling/ Crisis Caused by Pollution, Development, Over-Fishing." USA Today 10 Mar. 1994: 9A
The British Petroleum (BP) oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico was one of the worst ecological catastrophes in human history, causing vast damage to a fragile and beautiful ecosystem while at the same time calling attention to the deficits in current approaches to energy prospecting, risk management, and cleanup. This analysis of the Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill will devote attention to the following questions: (a) What kind of technology is in use for deep-sea oil extraction, what are the factors that accounted for the BP catastrophe, what were the statistical components of the spill in terms of volume and concentration, and what was the spatio-temporal scale of the oil spill? (b) What were the environmental (physical, biological, hydrological, and atmospheric) impacts of the oil spill, in addition to the economic and social impacts? (c) What were the scientific, technological, and policy solutions implemented by various actors to pursue the cleanup of coastal areas, wildlife, and wetlands damaged by the oil spill? (d) What is the feasibility of long-term biodiversity conservation measures and the limits of such solutions?
The Ocean Ranger The Ocean Ranger was an offshore exploration oil drilling platform that sank in Canadian waters 315 kilometres southeast from St. John's Newfoundland, on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland on February 15, 1982, with 84 crewmembers onboard. The Ocean Ranger was the largest semi-submersible, offshore exploration, oil drilling platform of the day. Built in 1976 by Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, it operated off the coasts of Alaska, New Jersey, Ireland, and in November 1980 moved to the Grand Banks. Since it was so big, it was considered to have the ability to drill in areas too dangerous for other rigs.
The Deepwater Horizon was a dynamically positioned drilling rig which owned by Transocean and it was chartered to BP from 2008. On April 20, 2010, the offshore oil rig exploded, the explosion was the largest accidental marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry as the oil leaked 205.8 million gallons of crude oil into Mexico Gulf Coast and BP spent 86 days to cap the well, stopping the oil flow into Mexico Gulf for the first time. This report covered some facts about the BP oil spill scandal and its influence to stakeholders. The article also includes the analysis of oil spill from accounting, legal, ethical and corporate governance aspects. Furthermore, a comparison between The BP oil spill and Enron scandal is for analyze the similarities and differences of these two cases, and explore any improvement and change on legislation, accounting standards, code of conduct etc. The purpose of this report is reveal to directors what did BP do wrong in the past and what aspect the firm could do better in the future.
Many businesses that sell seafood had to cut back on it for the past few months. It has been since April that businesses are now selling shellfish back on the menu for a somewhat reasonable price. A major incident occurred just two days before Earth Day. The incident is well known as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, or as many others call it, the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The Deepwater Horizon drilling rig along the Gulf of Mexico is an oil-spill that resulted from an explosion that is under contract with BP, leading up to over million barrels of oil spilling into the Gulf of Mexico. This incident has led to many controversies. Arguments in discussion are whether or not we should continue to drill offshore, what exactly went wrong, and why none of the safeties were unable to activate.
With a coastline of over 202,000 km and over a fourth of the world’s freshwater resources, it is no wonder why Canada’s fishing industry is a huge part of its economy.1 Canada exports more than 75% of its fish to over 130 countries worldwide. Many of the 7 million people who reside on the coast depend on the ocean’s resources. In total, Canada’s entire fishing industry is worth around $5 billion a year, being one of the world’s most valuable. However, the coasts have not been treated with respect; overfishing, over consumption, and wasteful practices have deteriorated, not only the industry, but the ecosystems and fish populations. This is a huge global issue; the worldwide collapse of fisheries is projected for 2048.
Most people believe that one man-made natural disaster would teach us to be better, but we have learned that history repeats itself. The Exxon Valdez oil spill (in 1989) and the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, or BP oil spill, (in 2010) were both devastating oil spills that shocked the nation. The Exxon Valdez oil spill occurred due to a tanker grounding. The BP oil spill was caused by an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil platform. These two oil spills were both disasters and had greater effects in certain categories. In this essay, I will be comparing the cause of both oil spills, the damage/effect of both oil spills, and the cleanup of each oil spill.
There are many causes to petroleum in b the oceanic environment. Oil naturally seeps into the ocean but the natural concentrations have been greatly exceeded. Shipping oil from one place to another contributes the most to oil in the ocean. The crude oil from transportation b is discarded into the ocean while cleaning bilges, which are the lowest compartment in ships, and transferring oil from tank to tank at sea. “Disasters like shipwrecks, oil tanker accidents, and offshore oil rigs fires continue to this problem, as does the disposal of urban garbage into oceans, dumping of waste oil by passing ships, commercial coastal and off-shore entertainment, and deep-sea industrial and nuclear waste dumps”(“Marine Water Quality”). Another large polluter is the oil industry. Tanker ports and refineries are located by the coast for shipping purposes. The coastal areas receive considerable damage from the spills. “Large numbers of seabirds are killed annually, their oil-matted plumage making flight impossible and exposing them to hypothermia. Oil-soaked fur of marine mammals loses its water repellency, also leading to death by hypothermia. Ingestion of oil by fishes, birds, and mammals may also result in death”(“Marine Pollution”). Another source of petroleum pollution is from the city streets. Oil runoff from urban streets and sewers enter waterways and the ocean. Oil has a very long term ecological impact on the ocean and the marine ecosystems. “The presence of oil in marine waters severely degrades water quality by clogging an animal’s feeding - structure, killing larvae, and blocking available sunlight for photosynthesis”(“Marine Water Quality”). Petroleum pollution has been a large problem for a very long period of time. “As early as 197p, oceanographic ecologists noted that they could rarely pull a net through the surface of the ocean without collecting some form of tar or
Oil-Led Development: Social, Political, and Economic Consequences. CDDRL Working Paper 80. Robinson, J. A., Torvik, R. & Verdier, T. (2006). Political Foundations of the Resource Curse. Journal of Development Economics, 79, 447-468.
" Oil is the life blood of our modern industrial society. It fuels the machines and lubricates the wheels of the world’s production. But when that vital resource is out of control, it can destroy marine life and devastate the environment and economy of an entire region…. The plain facts are that the technology of oil-- its extraction, its transport, its refinery and use-- has outpaced laws to control that technology and prevent oil from polluting the environment…" (Max, 1969). Oil in its many forms has become one of the necessities of modern industrial life. Under control, and serving its intended purpose, oil is efficient, versatile, and productive. On the other hand, when oil becomes out of control, it can be one of the most devastating substances in the environment. When spilled in water, it spreads for miles around leaving a black memory behind (Stanley, 1969).
On April 20, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, located in the Gulf of Mexico exploded killing 11 workers and injuring 17. The oil rig sank a day-and-a-half later. The spill was referred to as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, BP oil spill, Gulf of Mexico oil spill, and BP oil disaster. It was first said that little oil had actually leaked into the ocean but a little over a month later the estimate was 12,000-19,000 barrels of crude oil being leaked per day. Many attempts were made to stop the leak but all failed until they capped the leak on July 15, 2010, and on September 19 the federal government declared the well “effectively dead.” In the three months that it took to finally put a stop the leak, 4.9 million barrels of oil were released into the ocean. The spill caused considerable damage to marine and wildlife habitats and the Gulf’s fishing and tourism industries. The White House energy advisor, Carol Browner, goes as far to say that the Deepwater oil spill is the “worst environmental disaster the US has faced.”
Offshore oil drilling has always been a notorious subject of debate due to the positive growth it can bring to a country’s economy and simultaneously bring detrimental effects in a marine environment. The largest issue regarding crude oil pumping offshore is the high risk of tremendous damage to marine ecosystems and depleting resource, additionally many modern economies count on crude oil as an effective power source and its growth in the financial market. Historically offshore drilling has had its share of enormous oil spills into many bodies of water such at the Lakewood Gusher spill, the Gulf War Oil Spill, Odyssey Oil Spill and unfortunately many more(Cooper,1992). These date as far back 1967 when Scilly Islands was documented as the first
According to an online article from Thought Company, the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill polluted the waters of Prince William Sound, coated more than a thousand miles of pristine coastline and killed hundreds of thousands of birds, fish, and animals. This crisis has become a symbol of human-caused environmental disasters all over the world. Many years after the accident, and despite billions of dollars spent on cleanup efforts, crude oil can still be found under the rocks and sand on the beaches of southwest Alaska, and the effects of the spill are still apparent in the lasting damage done to many native species. (West, 2017) This specific incident was a major crisis that acted as a prodrome for the oil industry. For the purpose of this assignment it is important that we take a look at the details of this event. From there, we will look at how Exxon handled the
The worst imaginable environmental catastrophe that could occur in Maryland has just become a reality. The lifeblood of Southern Maryland's Watermen has been forever affected. The ecosystems of the Patuxtent River and Chesapeake Bay have been irreversibly contaminated. The Three Mile Island and Chernobyl Nuclear Accidents have affected the world ecosystems; but the Chalk Point oil spill has reached us here in Southern Maryland. The ethical considerations with generating electricity from fossil fuels, specifically oil, has a profound impact on us all. We all use electricity to make our lives easier and more productive. By using this electricity have we given our permission for the oil companies free reign in order to provide us with the service we demand?? Are we just as responsible for the oil spill as the corporate leaders who run the companies? As citizens we are in a position to develop and enforce regulations to protect ourselves. Do we also protect the environment; or is the environment just something for us to use? These and many other moral dilemmas exist for modern man.
First, across Africa the landscape is changing, the snowy caps of Mount Kilimanjaro are melting and the shorelines of Lake Chad are receding. The once enormous Lake Chad has nearly vanished, it is now half the size it was thirty five years ago (Offor, 2008). The town of Burundi is on Lake Tanganyika, which is still a vast expanse of water, but the shoreline has retreated 50 feet in the last 4 years, and ships can no longer reach the port. Lake Victoria, the biggest of Africa's great lakes, dripped by a vertical inch a day for much of last year. The receding of these lakes along with a change in temperature of the water will now deplete the fish stock. As the fish sources decrease, this limits the amount of fish caught and sold by fisherman. When the regular food source is strained, Africans may turn to hunting wil...