ABSTRACT
This chapter advances the argument that weak oil pollution laws worsen regulatory enforcement and the resultant environmental injustice.
It compares the relevant aspects of oil pollution laws in the US and Nigeria, discussing the Gulf of Mexico spills, the Nigerian Bonga spill, and the usefulness of internationally acceptable standards in enforcement. This chapter proves a connection between laws and environmental injustice, and finds that the regulatory actions following the US Gulf of Mexico spill and the Nigerian Bonga spills show better regulatory responses in the US.
It concludes that the legislative frameworks pose more environmental justice challenges in Nigeria than in the US, especially with ineffectual reactive-proactive regulatory responses. It then recommends diffusion of the US laws and application of internationally acceptable standards in enforcement as one way of overcoming legislative reform challenges. It also recommends that courts use the practices of the multinational oil companies (MNOCs) elsewhere as a yardstick in deciding cases relating to the Standards to reduce pollution incidences and by extension reduce environmental injustice in Nigeria and other developing countries.
