The state-owned oil company of Trinidad, Petrotrin, has been tied to at least (at least!) eleven separate oil spills that have closed miles of beaches in Trinidad and Tobago, crippling tourism, killing fish, and turning an island paradise into something far uglier.
“Over the past month, the company has confirmed at least 11 spills and was slapped with a $3.1 million fine from the country’s Environmental Management Authority last week, which the company’s president, Khalid Hassanali, called “harsh”.
The pipeline responsible for the first of the leaks at Petrotrin’s Point-a-Pierre facility, which resulted in an initial spill of more than 7,000 barrels, may not have undergone any inspections for the past 17 years, according to a confidential report commissioned by the company and obtained by the Trinidad Guardian and reported in the Huffington Post.
Of the other 10 leaks, Petrotrin has accused saboteurs of causing at least two while issuing a series of media releases praising what they describe as “significant progress” during clean-up efforts, saying the beaches would be clean one to two weeks after the spill, according to the Huffington Post.
A three-million dollar judgement is “harsh,” huh? Not in comparison with what I’d like to recommend for these corporate sociopaths.
Saboteurs, huh? Sure, buddy, sure. Probably Greenpeace at it again, because you know how much those environmentalists hate the environment.
I’d call that pretty ugly, wouldn’t you? Musicians representing these island traditions need to speak up loudly against the corporate institutionalization of greed and destruction.