The media’s eye is on the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, but there has been ongoing leakage in Nigeria for 50 years as much as 546 million gallons of oil by some estimates. The crabs and shrimp are all gone, and life expectancy is the lowest in Nigeria, and people struggle to make a living as their environment dies.

Little attention is paid to this impoverished area, and attempts to publicize the plight are squelched. The spokeswoman for Shell Oil in Lagos, said, “We don’t discuss individual spills,” and witnesses have reported that soldiers guarding an Exxon Mobil site beat women who were demonstrating last month.

The environmental damage to the Niger delta may provide good clues for what type of damage Americans can expect to see in the Gulf of Mexico.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/17/world/africa/17nigeria.html