An Environmental Disaster Is Unfolding In Venezuela

An often overlooked and ignored aspect of Venezuela’s crisis is the considerable environmental degradation occurring at the hands of the OPEC member’s decrepit oil industry. Two decades of malfeasance, mismanagement, and corruption coupled with chronic under-investment in maintaining, repairing, and refurbishing industry infrastructure means oil spills are nearly an everyday occurrence. Frequent spillages of crude oil and emission of toxic gases, through flaring, as well as liquids from severely corroded infrastructure, including pipelines,…