The following is a link to a report that I found released by the U.S. Department of Energy on the environmental impacts of oil production in Saudi Arabia:
http://www.earthscape.org/r1/ES15071/doe_saudi.html
As is evident in “Blood and Oil” readings for this week, the production of oil in Saudi Arabia is strongly linked to not only fuel use for the military, but also, to U.S. relations that help fund the Saudi Arabian military. As a result, the effects that oil processing has on the nation’s environment can be constructed as an issue of the environmental degradation of war.
The report describes, for example, how as demand for oil exports increases, shipping traffic from Saudi Arabia has become more congested, and as a result the amount of accidents and oil spills have gone up as well. Furthermore, Saudi Arabia’s practices of offshore drilling have several negative environmental implications. For instance, coral reefs located on the Saudi coast as well as the Mangrove populations have been depleted from oil contamination. Another problem is that the waste-water left over from the oil production is very high in salt content, upsetting the balance of salt in these waters.
These are only a few of the effects seen in Saudi Arabia from the production of oil. The air has also been degraded from pollution as well as the expected hazards of increased carbon emissions. The report concludes by saying the Saudi government is intensifying efforts to increase awareness about environmental issues.
I think it is important to not only recognize the environmental effects cause by oil production and military expansion, but also examine the forces that are encouraging or enabling this degradation. The United States is a major source of the demand for oil as well as a financer of their military in return. We must question who has the responsibility to address these environmental issues? Is it only the Saudi government that must tend to the state of the environment in their nation or do other powers need to assist in the development? More importantly, perhaps, who is most capable and would most realistically offer constructive reform?
ok it's Iraq but it's interesting
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Here is a link to a blog put up by Morgan on a different Blog. There are a
number of entries that tie more to your topic than theirs. Enjoy.
15 years ago
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I think that we definitely have a responsibility to address these issues, but I don't see the United States doing this anytime in the near future. As long as we continue to equate a stable oil supply with national security, the United States is definitely not going to start talking about the detriments to Saudi Arabian oil mining. We are barely able to acknowlege the effects here in the United States. I agree with you that we should take responsibiltiy, especially since we are funding so much of the oil mining, but unfourtanately I don't see it happening anytime soon.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Evelyn completely. The U.S. does not politically recognize the environmental consequences (domestic or foreign) of our consumer behavior. We are unwilling to create any sort of moderate policy and regulations on pollution for our own countries, and I doubt that although the U.S. should take some responsibility for the problems in Saudi Arabia, we actually ever will do anything about it, much less take part of the blame.
ReplyDeleteWe also need to take into account how we actually 'count' the costs. Most pollution is considered 'external' to price. If we paid for the damage done by our oil drilling, we'd care a lot more about it!
ReplyDelete