While much political and economic attention has been focused on the oil industry over the past several years, the links between oil extraction and environmental, health and social problems have been largely ignored. According to a recent report by Environmental Rights Action (ERA)/Friends of the Earth Nigeria, a Greengrants grantee, 2.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas associated with crude oil extraction is flared every day in Nigeria. This has an obvious impact on global warming, as gas flares in Nigeria release more greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere than the rest of human activities in sub-Saharan Africa combined.
Background: Effects of Gas Flaring
Gas flaring occurs when the natural gas associated with oil deposits is burned off before the crude oil is refined. Oil companies routinely do it for safety reasons, or where no infrastructure exists to bring the gas to market. And, although there is another safe option — gas can be re-injected back into oil wells — oil companies in countries like Nigeria find it more economically expedient to burn off the natural gas and pay the insignificant fine associated with flaring.
According to a World Bank estimate, more than 100 billion cubic meters of gas is flared or vented annually around the globe, despite incentives to capture the associated gas and bring it to market. The amount of gas flared is enough to cover the annual gas consumption of Germany and France together. This amount is also equivalent to approximately 12% of the emissions reductions called for in the Kyoto Protocol.
Toxins released into the atmosphere by gas flaring also harm the health of the local communities. The Canadian Public Health Association reports that over 250 identified toxins can be released from flaring, including carcinogens such as benzopyrene and benzene, particulates, and traces of heavy metals such as mercury and arsenic. Using accepted World Bank and U.S. toxicity rates, ERA estimates that gas flaring in Nigeria’s Bayelsa State alone likely causes 4,960 respiratory illnesses among children, 120,000 asthma attacks and 8 cases of cancer each year.
If Nigeria’s flared gas were collected and sold, the revenue at current prices would be approximately $2.5 billion per year. Conceding that there would be extensive costs in constructing the infrastructure to capture and market this “oil-associated” gas, it is still a huge potential revenue source for a country that, despite its oil wealth, remains one of the most underdeveloped countries in the world.
There is another vital issue at stake — the opportunity to use the gas itself to better the lives of the people of Nigeria. Most Nigerians, even those who live within sight of enormous gas flares, still rely on wood or charcoal as the mainstay for cooking and heating. By one estimate, the natural gas currently flared in Nigeria has the potential to serve the cooking needs of 320 million people who still rely on fuelwood and charcoal. Substituting even a portion that would help to combat deforestation, and it would also reduce the enormous incidence of respiratory disease from indoor smoke inhalation, which kills 1.6 million people each year, according to the World Health Organization estimates.
The Response by Environmental Groups
Gas flaring has been drastically curbed in the U.S. and Western Europe, but not in developing countries. Affected communities in areas like Nigeria’s Niger Delta have few resources and little political support to avert this threat to their health, traditional livelihoods and environment. In Nigeria, the environment and human health have frequently been secondary considerations for oil companies and the government.
Nigeria has had regulations banning gas flaring for more than a quarter of a century, but the government has yet to implement those policies effectively. In 1969, the Nigerian government required that oil companies develop facilities to use the oil-associated natural gas within five years of beginning operations. In 1979 the government enacted the “Associated Gas Reinjection Act,” which demanded that oil companies stop gas flaring within five years. Unfortunately, little has been done to enforce these regulations.
Since its founding in 1993, Environmental Rights Action has been working on the issue of gas flaring. In June, 2005 they published a major report, Gas Flaring In Nigeria: A Human Rights, Environmental and Economic Monstrosity. ERA’s position: “We demand an immediate end to gas flaring and an end to exploration and new oil field development until facilities are in place for the utilization of all associated gas.”
Edo Research and Information Center (EDRIC) is another Nigerian Greengrantsí grantee working to empower local people in their struggle for social and environmental justice against gas flaring through advocacy and public awareness campaigns. ERIC is engaging in research in rural, oil-bearing communities to identify and document the local impact of gas flaring on traditional livelihoods, health and the environment. There is a great need for this research: several studies have attempted to document the role of gas flaring in climate change, but there has been little concern about the impact on local communities. ERIC will help give a voice to local residents who have been asserting for years that their natural resources and land fertility have been depleted due to the continuous gas flaring in their communities.
By publishing their findings and raising awareness on the local impact of gas flares, ERIC hopes to develop an approach to curb gas flaring. They also seek to include local impacts in future legislation concerning nuisance and negligence provisions. In addition, ERIC is training local communities to engage in campaign and advocacy strategies that will empower them, such as lobbying key policy makers, and to facilitate community development schemes that will help mitigate gas flaring’s harmful environmental and health effects.
Update: High Court Orders a Halt to Gas Flaring
The High Court of Nigeria, on November 14, 2005, ordered all oil companies in the Niger Delta to stop gas flaring. This decision is a precedent for the region and reflects the hard work of organizations in the area, especially Environmental Rights Action, directed by Greengrants West Africa Advisor Nnimmo Bassey.
ERA played an instrumental role in supporting this court case; Nnimmo was quoted in a recent press release as saying “For the first time, a court of competence jurisdiction has boldly declared that Shell, Chevron and the other oil corporations have been engaged in illegal activities here for decades. We expect this judgement to be respected and that for once the oil corporations will accept the truth and bring their sinful flaring activities to a halt. This victory marks a dawn in the struggle of the communities of the Niger Delta to have these flares of hell switched off.”
However, this decision undoubtedly marks the beginning of a prolonged and expensive struggle to uphold the ruling and enforce compliance. Shell has already filed an appeal. Nnimmo noted that the next steps will involve filing suits for compensation and environmental remediation. In reaction to these events, we are funding a group recommended by Nnimmo, Gas Flare Impacted Communities, to support the necessary litigation costs for other communities also affected by gas flaring and to ensure that the oil giants are indeed held responsible for their actions. While it may be many years before the oil companies actually change their practices and compensate for damages, this ruling is an important and exciting step toward achieving justice for people whose quality of life and health has been damaged by illegal gas flaring.