Thus, the economies of many countries depend heavily on extractive industries.
The discussion below will look as four examples (Diamond 2011) of extractive
industries:
(1) oil,
(2) hardrock mining and coal,
(3) wood logging, and
(4) marine fishing,
to explain what may happen, both when no corrective action is taken and when there
is a proper monitoring of the environmental aspects of the industries.
4.3.1 Oil
On Salawati Island, Indonesian New Guinea, when oil extraction was being carried
out, in the late 1980s, natural gas obtained as a byproduct, was being burned off due
to lack of facilities to liquefy and transport it for sale. The forests had 100 yard
(approximately 90 m) wide clearances created for road access, but were much too
wide for many species of New Guinea rainforest mammals, birds, frogs, and reptiles
to cross. There were many oil spills on the ground. Even the oil company employees
were animal (bird) hunters.
In contrast on the Kutubu oil field, Kikori River watershed of Papua New Guinea,
only a 10 yard (9 m) wide road, designed to be just wide enough to enable two
vehicles passing safely in opposite directions. Strict health and safety precautions
were being observed. There was a strong concern for the environment, which
entailed that the Kutubu oil field was, in reality, the largest and most rigorously
controlled national park in Papua New Guinea. This paragraph describes the behaviour of another company, as may have been guessed.
There are many factors which have contributed to these environmental policies:
(1) The company’s concern for the environment itself was a motivating factor.
(2) The importance of avoiding very expensive environmental disasters.
(3) The economic value of clean environmental policies, such as cleaning up
pollution is usually far more expensive than preventing pollution. It is cheaper
to prevent diseases in the first place by cheap, simple public health measures
than their cure.
(4) Extracting oil is an infrastructure investment which is going to be productive
between 20 and 50 years. Policies which reduced oil spills to once in a decade,
would still produce 2–5 big oil spills during the years of operation. Given its
impacts, an oil spill is highly visible across the world, and therefore this would
be unacceptable. Thus, more rigorous policies would be required and desirable.
(5) If they wish to be able to invest intelligently, some companies devote an office to
comprehend the world and appreciate events or trends several decades in the
future.
4.3 Extractive Industries Causing Environmental Concerns
113
The discussion below will look as four examples (Diamond 2011) of extractive
industries:
(1) oil,
(2) hardrock mining and coal,
(3) wood logging, and
(4) marine fishing,
to explain what may happen, both when no corrective action is taken and when there
is a proper monitoring of the environmental aspects of the industries.
4.3.1 Oil
On Salawati Island, Indonesian New Guinea, when oil extraction was being carried
out, in the late 1980s, natural gas obtained as a byproduct, was being burned off due
to lack of facilities to liquefy and transport it for sale. The forests had 100 yard
(approximately 90 m) wide clearances created for road access, but were much too
wide for many species of New Guinea rainforest mammals, birds, frogs, and reptiles
to cross. There were many oil spills on the ground. Even the oil company employees
were animal (bird) hunters.
In contrast on the Kutubu oil field, Kikori River watershed of Papua New Guinea,
only a 10 yard (9 m) wide road, designed to be just wide enough to enable two
vehicles passing safely in opposite directions. Strict health and safety precautions
were being observed. There was a strong concern for the environment, which
entailed that the Kutubu oil field was, in reality, the largest and most rigorously
controlled national park in Papua New Guinea. This paragraph describes the behaviour of another company, as may have been guessed.
There are many factors which have contributed to these environmental policies:
(1) The company’s concern for the environment itself was a motivating factor.
(2) The importance of avoiding very expensive environmental disasters.
(3) The economic value of clean environmental policies, such as cleaning up
pollution is usually far more expensive than preventing pollution. It is cheaper
to prevent diseases in the first place by cheap, simple public health measures
than their cure.
(4) Extracting oil is an infrastructure investment which is going to be productive
between 20 and 50 years. Policies which reduced oil spills to once in a decade,
would still produce 2–5 big oil spills during the years of operation. Given its
impacts, an oil spill is highly visible across the world, and therefore this would
be unacceptable. Thus, more rigorous policies would be required and desirable.
(5) If they wish to be able to invest intelligently, some companies devote an office to
comprehend the world and appreciate events or trends several decades in the
future.
4.3 Extractive Industries Causing Environmental Concerns
113