Two decades of malfeasance, mismanagement, and corruption have led to ill-maintained energy infrastructure and a large number of oil spills in Venezuela. Caracas’ reluctance to identify, contain, and clean up oil spills has significantly worsened the environmental impact. The environmental disaster unfolding in Venezuela could take years, perhaps even decades to clean up. 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, storage facilities, and refineries, are creating an environmental crisis of catastrophic proportions in one of the world’s most biodiverse countries. A focal […]