NIGERIA: DESPITE HEALTH RISKS, NIGER DELTANS LIVE,

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 LAGOS 000100

SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED - HANDLE ACCORDINGLY
SIPDIS

STATE PASS NSC FOR BOBBY PITTMAN

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV EPET ECON SENV NI
SUBJECT: NIGERIA: DESPITE HEALTH RISKS, NIGER DELTANS LIVE,
SWIM IN CRUDE FROM SPILLS

Sensitive But Unclassified; Handle Accordingly


1. (SBU) Summary: During his February 1-19 visit to Lagos,
U.S. Science Fellow (USFF) and Environmental Protection
Agency Federal On-Scene Coordinator Michael Solecki taught
over 30 working level officers of the Nigerian Oil Spill
Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) advanced techniques
for dealing with oil spills. Solecki noted that the health
impacts of exposure to the benzene, toluene and xylene in
crude oil are well known, and include a range of cancers, as
well as asthma and blood diseases; children are at particular
risk. NOSDRA Environmental Scientists from Warri and Port
Harcourt described how communities in the Niger Delta live in
the oil spills, walking through the oil daily. One NOSDRA
scientist said he had seen young boys "swimming in the crude"
topping the water of a creek. In response to questions, the
NOSDRA officials estimated that on average three oil spills
take place every day in the Niger Delta; the total number of
spills reported by their agency annually is from 1,250-1,300,
although the area covered by the spills is not known.
Satellite mapping can reveal the extent of contamination, and
oil can be recovered from aquifers, USSF said. End Summary.



2. (SBU) From February 1-19, USSF and Environmental
Protection Agency Federal On-Scene Coordinator Michael
Solecki taught over 30 working level officers of the Nigerian
Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) advanced
techniques for dealing with oil spills. Solecki also met
with local environmentalists and officials of international
oil companies (IOCs) (Septels).

Niger Delta Indigenes "Live In" Oil Spills
--------------


3. (SBU) During a dinner February 13 at the home of Pol-Econ
Chief, Warri and Port Harcourt NOSDRA officials told USSF,
ESTHOff and Poloffs that the people of the Niger Delta do not
just live near the oil spills, they literally "live in them,
walking through them daily". An Environmental Scientist
employed at the Port Harcourt NOSDRA office said he
constantly sees the people of villages located near spills
walking through the oil on the ground. His colleague, an
Environmental Scientist from the Warri NOSDRA office, agreed;
when he conducted an investigation of a spill in a community
near Warri, he came upon a group of young boys "swimming in
the crude."


4. (SBU) Asked the potential impact of exposure on the
population, USSF, while noting that he is not a physician,
explained that the health effects of exposure to the benzene,
toluene and xylene in crude oil are well known, and include
a range of cancers, including of the lungs, liver, kidney,
and colon, as well as asthma, blood diseases, mongoloidism
and premature births. Children are at particular risk
because their short stature places them in the heaviest
concentration of the vapor zone, which can rise from seven to
eight feet above the exposed crude oil, the Science Fellow
said.

Satellite Mapping Could Reveal Extent of Spills
-------------- --


5. (SBU) In response to questions, the NOSDRA officials
estimated that on an average three oil spills take place
every day in the Niger Delta; the total number of spills
reported by their agency annually is from 1,250-1,300, they
said. The total area covered by spills is not known,
however, nor what communities are affected, the NOSDRA
Environmental Scientists said. Asked whether remote
assessments of the presence of oil from spills could be done,
USSF responded that information from oil companies about the
stratigraphy of their fields, coupled with measurements from
areas free of spills, might provide sufficient information to
allow satellite mapping of areas affected by oil spills. Oil
fingerprinting is a technology that allows matching oil from
a spill to the oil originating in any given well, the USSF
said.


LAGOS 00000100 002 OF 002


Oil Recovery "Cleans" Aquifer
--------------


6. (SBU) USSF recounted his experiences as Chief Recovery
Officer tasked with cleaning up the site of numerous oil
spills in the United States. Many oil refineries in New
Jersey and elsewhere across the United States are currently
dealing with a legacy of 100 years of spills that have
affected the soil, aquifer and ground water of the areas
surrounding them. The projects reclaiming oil from ground
water provide the community with safe drinking water, and are
neither extremely complicated technologically, nor extremely
expensive to execute, USSF asserted. Moreover, the oil that
is reclaimed, while degraded, continues to have value and can
be sold at a profit, he noted. In one project in which he
was involved, of 160,000 gallons of oil spilled, fully 90,000
gallons was able to be recovered; the remainder of the oil is
immobile and remains trapped in the soil.


7. (U) This cable was cleared by USSF and coordinated with
Embassy Abuja.
BLAIR