Matters of Scale - Trouble in the Pipeline
Area of Israel | 2 million hectares |
Area of reindeer pasture in Russia destroyed by oil pollutants and fires in recent years | 22 million hectares |
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Amount of oil spilled in the Exxon Valdez disaster | 257,000 barrels |
Amount of oil spilled into the Niger River Delta between 1986 and 1996, according to a CIA study | 2,500,000 barrels |
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Amount the Texaco CEO was paid in 1995 | $1,800,000 |
Amount the average worker at a Texaco oil well in Ecuador was paid that year | $1,800 |
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Amount of oil in the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve, in days of net imports | 53 days |
Amount of food reserve in most U.S. cities | 2 days |
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Number of countries reported in World Rainforest Bulletin (16 articles) in which significant deforestation was caused by fire in recent years | 9 |
Number of countries reported in World Rainforest Bulletin (80 articles) in which significant deforestation was caused by oil and gas exploitation | 17 |
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Length of an oil pipeline in Colombia that has been bombed by guerrillas more than a thousand times since 1986, including 177 attacks in 2001 (the year of 9-11), totaling at least two bombings for each kilometer of pipeline: | 490 km |
Total length of nine larger oil pipelines now operating or under construction in politically volatile areas where recent unrest could make them prime rebel or terrorist targets* | 14,872 km |
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Sources: U.S. Central Intelligence Agency; Trade and Environment Database Case Studies, www.american.edu/TED; World Rainforest Bulletin; www.geocities.com/TheTropics/Cabana/4580/oil.html; Strategic Petroleum Reserve, U.S. Department of Energy; U.S. Department of State; www.princeton.edu/~afp/vol002_iss06/colombia.htm.
*Baku-Ceyhen, Baku-Supsa, Baku-Novorossiisk, Kazakhstan-Russia, and Caspian (through Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey, Russia, Chechnya, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan); Pakistan-China; Tibet-China; Bolivia-Brazil; Chad-Cameroon.
*Baku-Ceyhen, Baku-Supsa, Baku-Novorossiisk, Kazakhstan-Russia, and Caspian (through Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey, Russia, Chechnya, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan); Pakistan-China; Tibet-China; Bolivia-Brazil; Chad-Cameroon.