Kejal Vyas and Patricia Garip of The Wall Street Journal report on Venezuela’s oil industry and its environmental record.
- While Nicolás Maduro may blame climate change on capitalism, it is authoritarian regimes like those in Venezuela that are responsible for environmental degradation.
- In Venezuela the state owns the oil company and means of production, which has led to neglect, mismanagement, and a loss of talented employees who have left the country for other economic opportunities.
- Because socialism does not incentivize innovation oil spills and leaks have become common in the country.
- Economic freedom and open markets, not socialism and more government control, drive innovation and climate progress.
“‘It’s not even happening once in a while anymore, we’re now talking about spills and leaks that are practically constant because there’s no personnel to handle them,’ Mr. Quero said. Venezuela has seen many experienced oil field technicians and laborers flee the country over the past decade as the economy tanked and as the collapse of the local currency, the bolivar, rendered salaries the equivalent of a few U.S. dollars a month, oil union leaders say.”
Read the full article here.
The views and opinions expressed are those of the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of C3.
