Deadly toxins continue to poison the sea, further fouling a fragile coastal ecosystem and economy – the consequences of irresponsible business practices and weak government oversight.
Sounds like BP’s massive oil spill in the Gulf Coast.
It also describes what has been going on in Somalia for the past two decades.
Yes, I am comparing America with a country better known to us for its pirates. Consider the parallels.
In 2008, the United Nations official responsible for Somalia, Ahmedou Ould Abdallah, revealed that European companies had been exploiting political instability in the East African nation to dump toxins its coastal waters. Those contaminants included radioactive uranium waste, lead, heavy metals like cadmium and mercury, even medical waste.
From an economic standpoint, the dumping makes sense. It is hundreds of times cheaper to toss barrels of poison off Somalia’s coast than to dispose of it in highly regulated Europe.
Some of these barrels of toxins washed ashore during the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
The environmental damage from the dumping threatens the local population’s health as well as the critical commercial fishing industry.
Somali fishermen also face crushing competition from European and Asian trawlers who bribe corrupt Somali government officials to secure fishing licenses, according to the same U.N. official.
The European and Asian boats reportedly have used prohibited nets and sophisticated underwater lighting systems to overfish the waters.
With a weak domestic fishing industry, many Somalis have turned to piracy.
In 2008, this dynamic was reported widely throughout the world, but barely registered in the United States.
That is too bad since we Americans could learn something from that environmental and economic disaster half a world away.
Today, BP’s deep sea oil well is spewing millions of gallons into the Gulf Coast. The company also is using highly toxic dispersants to deal with the spill.
The region is an environmental disaster, with the local commercial fishing industry and coastal tourism as helpless as the oil-soaked sea life.
Reports are coming out of cozy relations between the oil industry and the U.S. government officials responsible for policing it. This is a story of bribes, as well as millions in lobbying money, used to weaken or ignore rules meant to keep us safe.
Somalia’s tragedy is happening because of that nation’s civil war and official corruption.
Why is America’s excuse?