An oily mess
Working in the Gulf of Guinea in the last few years, oil issues have become increasingly difficult to ignore. The area is seeing a huge boom in oil discoveries and exploitation of what I am told are hefty reserves. My favorite green turtle feeding ground is in Equatorial Guinea, a tiny country almost nobody has ever heard of, sandwiched between Cameroon and Gabon, that has become the third biggest oil producer in Africa, after Nigeria and Angola, and one of the fastest growing economies in the world since the late 90s. US interest (given the mess in the Middle East) has slowly but surely shifted toward the region and, lo and behold, the companies drilling away in Eq Guinea are… you guessed it, from Texas! Unfortunately, I have a sneaking suspicion the environment may not be too high on the PR agenda of Bush’s oil cronies. What’s also not on their agenda is the situation beyond the platforms and compounds, where, by the way, they have more security and barbed wire than Fort Knox. But outside, their main accomplishment to date has been skyrocketing tensions. Alleged coup attempts are the order of the day, including one over the weekend that has featured prominently in the world media. Plus, a border dispute with neighboring Gabon over an oil-rich region could well escalate from diplomatic bickering and patrolling warships, given the hugely powerful competing interests. Maddeningly enough, this oil-rich border region also happens to be… indeed, my favorite feeding ground! So, now I’m moping around and wondering what the future holds for my favorite population (which, by the way, welcomes distinguished visitors from Ascension and rookeries in the Western Atlantic and Indian Ocean, as well as local East Atlantic turtles). Should I resign to it being punctured like a colander by oil drills and the greens becoming blacks from oil pollution? Or can the oil companies be “encouraged” to develop a conscience? They won’t actually not drill, that’s too much to ask… but is there such a thing as environmentally friendly drilling? Won’t economic development and “progress” bring nothing but the environmental disasters it’s brought to the so called “developed” world? Will the local people stop hunting turtles, get jobs on the oil rigs, happily give up turtle meat, yet preserving their traditional values? Will the environment ministry actually be able to enforce the protected area status of the site? Or should I stop dreaming and give up on the poor critters and the lost cause? Maybe my efforts would be better spent elsewhere, where there’s a flicker of hope… (I haven’t even mentioned a couple of other non-oil-related threats… but that’s another long story, for another blog). The thing is, I’ve become sentimentally attached to this place, its beautiful clear waters and white sandy beaches, its fat healthy turtles, its kind and friendly people… naïve creature that I am, I’d rather not see it become an oily mess!!!