Article based on the transcripts of Stephen Digges’ film “Uganda’s Oil Boom: Curse or Cure?“

The discovery of oil bellow Lake Albert, on the border of Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo could constitute the largest onshore discovery in sub-Saharan Africa. The vast discovery could transform Uganda’s economy – but only if managed well.

Environmentally it could spell a disaster.

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“Typical drilling site …with just a few environmental considerations”:

• lead concentration about 19% higher than the normal concentration; lead being one of the leading causes of toxicity in waterfowl, and is also known as main cause to die-offs of wild bird populations. Lead poisoning affects every one of the body’s organ systems, especially the nervous system, but also the bones and teeth, the kidneys, and the cardiovascular, immune, and reproductive systems.…
• toxic mud waste in the lake containing among others:  lead, zinc, chromium, cadmium, nitrogen an chloride, nytogene. Ingestion of any of these chemicals could prove to be fatal.
• impact of these chemicals in seismic activity on the environment in both the water and to the wildlife is devastating and could mean the end of the last nature.
• seismic activity is complicating the drilling and could become a major cause of oil spill
• fishing communities will be ruined with the construction of oil platforms
• money spent in oil drilling and oil refineries is not money spent on communities
• undisclosed oil production sharing agreements because of the environmental consequences of drilling and refining oil

In the Albertine Rift Basin the oil exploration and pollution continuou at the expense of the environment and surrounding communities.

Source: VJ movement