It goes to show the economic might of the US and the advantage of having a relatively uncorrupted government and legal system when dealing with industrial pollution on a catastrophic scale.
The US government is demanding BP set aside $20 billion in a fund for the clean up of the Gulf blow-out.
Say we take the worst case of 100,000 barrels a day or around 12,500 tons a day.
This gives a total of 690,000 tons since the spill began, low end estimates are around a quarter of that say 175,000 tons. Horrifying to say the least no matter which figure you take, and it may well destroy BP as a company, however:
This pales into insignificance compared to the Niger Delta where significant environmental vandalism has been going on for nearly 50 years.
In 2006 alone approximately 1,500,000 tons were spilt into the delta.
Nigerian sweet crude probably the best there is provides around 40% of our oil requirement in the US.
The whole oil pipework system, hundreds of miles of it, are rotting and falling apart. Drilling is moving towards more isolated and deeper areas, thus compounding the problem.
And you know what?
Nobody really gives a damn.
Compensation so far $0, if you exclude buying the Nigerian Government.
I think our rage over the gulf is an exportable commodity
Worse may be to come. One industry insider, who asked not to be named, said: "Major spills are likely to increase in the coming years as the industry strives to extract oil from increasingly remote and difficult terrains. Future supplies will be offshore, deeper and harder to work. When things go wrong, it will be harder to respond."
The whole article is well worth a read.
How much has really spilled into the Niger Delta over half a century?
Nobody knows.
Nobody really gives a damn. [even if the article is a decade old, nothing has changed except it has worsened]
Nobody is even trying to clean it up.
Life expectancy of those living in the Delta is now below 40 years, yet the oil companies will deny it has anything to do with them.
You will here the terrorism argument and sabotage excuse, the fact is that maintenance done to support 660 wells is not a priority, its just get the oil out as fast and a cheaply as possible.
Its not just spilling oil but all the associated industrial pollution, flares, water off run, tank flushing and tanker discharge all are carried out with no regard for the environment.
The Niger Delta is the worlds longest running and most massive ongoing spill, dwarfing even the environmental terrorism committed by Saddam Hussein.
So if you have any rage to spare after you finished with BP.
Add Exxon-Mobile and Shell to your list, and try to help those with no voice of their own.