Lessons for the Gulf from Nigeria

Over the last three months we have watched oil spill into the Gulf of Mexico as government and BP officials make speeches daily about how much oil is spewing and what the newest plan to slow the spill is. We feel for the people who's lives have been wrecked by this situation, for those who lost their lives, and for the wildlife we see drenched in oil. It turns out we are the lucky ones. This has been the biggest news story in our country for three months, our president has made multiple trips to the affected areas, and there is a public cry to help everyone and everything hurt by this spill.

It turns out that the oil companies have some experience with this type of situation. Although they may have been used to making up an estimate on the amount of oil and never having to back it up. It may never have mattered that the marine biologist that they planned on contacting in a situation like this passed away years before this disaster (even years before the disaster plan was filed for the Deepwater Horizen). In the past the details never really mattered.

For 40 years now there have been oil spills in the Niger Delta. The amount that spills annually is by most estimates at least as much as the Exxon Valdez spill. Yet I had no idea. I have never heard a word about this until a week ago. How can this much oil be spilling every year and not even get just a little media attention?

It seems the environmentalists in this country seem to focus their efforts locally. It is easier to cover up something going on in Africa. It has made me wonder why we are drilling off our own shores at all? What is really so bad about depending on foreign oil? It's kind of like paying someone to do your taxes. You give somebody else the responsibility so you do not have to worry about it or take responsibility. By no drilling here the environmentalists would quickly lose interest and even if something would happen and we had another disaster no one would care. There would be no claims to the oil companies for lost wages, no massive cleanup, no daily updates on the plans to stop or slow the leak.

The other side of this is of course the people of Nigeria. Aside from the issues we face such as employment, they also face lack of access to clean water. They do not have daily press conferences about the situation or masses of people lining up to help in any way they can.

It turns out that this is happening in other remote areas of the world as well. Far from the watchful eye of the media, far wealthy businessmen and even far from anyone who seems to care.