Magurchhara, Tengratila and beyond

At that time I could not have guessed that in less than two weeks, the Tengratila explosion would stage a nightmarish replay of the 1997 Magurchhara blowout. Flames shot up hundreds of feet into the air in a blast that had all the elements of Magurchhara--inadequate site testing, company negligence and cost-cutting, an enormous wastage of gas and money, vast property damage, and unknown long-term health and environmental consequences. Tack on to that zero accountability for the foreign company carrying out the operations, and the end result is zero chance at fair compensation for the Bangladeshi side.

Out of the 10,000 people who fled their homes in panic, only 616 families would get less than $85 per household as compensation for their lost homes and possessions. That amount wouldn't even buy a single decent winter coat in North America, and it certainly doesn't go too far here either, for a family of four or more who has lost everything in bitter midwinter, just two weeks before Eid. Then again, everyone who reads the newspaper knows that third world lives are somehow cheaper. Maybe the people over at Niko Resources were just following the trend set by George W. Bush in tsunami relief, to name the most recent of countless examples.

It is not just the multinational companies that are to blame, however. We, too, have shown time and time again that our silence can easily be bought. In this case, the total that Niko Resources will pay to ordinary Bangladeshis amounts to a little over $50,000. Even that paltry sum might eventually be reimbursed to Niko by the Bangladesh government -- there never was a Production Sharing Contract (PSC) between Niko and Petrobangla, and so it appears that Niko is not accountable in this case. When will we ever learn? It seems that our country is not yet ready for the multinationals, let alone natural gas -- we are like toddlers playing with matches and burning our hands repeatedly. Even now we are making yet another ghastly mistake, in the case of the Moulavibazar gas pipeline.

Gas and environmental safety

To return to the environmental issues highlighted in the "Gas fires and living forests" article, however, I should first respond to a Letter to the Editor from Dr. Shahrar Ali (DS Dec. 31, 2004). He pointed out that we should be using solar power and other cleaner, safer energy sources. This is very true -- gas is not the only answer -- but it was not the point of the article. Global energy policy, true pricing systems for clean fuels versus fossil fuels, and corporate interests in oil and gas will not change overnight.

In the meantime we are dependent on natural gas, and so we must manage it wisely for both economic and environmental reasons. Clearly, this is still not happening in Bangladesh. Major gas blowouts such as Magurchhora and Tengratila are relatively infrequent and make big headlines, but smaller gas accidents go on, under-reported, all the time nationwide. Gas accidents on the whole are such a regular occurrence that we cannot guarantee that another Tengratila will not happen in the next thirty years, or even in the next ten years. As such, in addition to better safety practices at drilling sites, all gas operations must be kept well away from human habitation, ecologically sensitive areas, and areas of national importance.

Lawachhara National Park is such a site -- one of 15 areas set aside in the country for conservation, and home to several rare plants and animals. The Park is by no means a pristine wilderness untouched by humans -- there is a paved road and a railway line passing through it, and at least 14 villages in and around it. However, all of these are old and were present long before the area was declared a national park in 1996. Human disturbance is constant. Farming, firewood collection, and logging (both legal and illegal) go on quite openly within its bounds. However, even with all these pressures Lawachhara is still a unique and valuable area for residents, tourists, researchers, and nature-lovers alike. Within minutes of entering, it is still possible to sense the humbling experience of encountering a rare creature. Lawachhara is as important a part of our national heritage as any museum.

Heading for a

third disaster

The existence of Lawachhara National Park is now threatened by the presence of Unocal's Moulavibazar gas pipeline. Our country has already lost much of its wild spaces to shady development deals with questionable common benefits, but the situation in Lawachhara is critical because the site is legally protected from such development. Yet today there are work teams and sections of pipe laid out in the forest, motors run noisily, digging has begun in some places, and acetylene torches are being used to weld pipe right in the jungle path.

All of this is illegal in a national park. In a mockery of the law, Unocal submitted an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report to the Department of Environment (DoE) in December 2004. An EIA is inappropriate in this situation, as national parks are already off-limits to development under the Wildlife (Preservation) (Amendment) Act of 1974. Nevertheless, work had already begun early January even though the DoE had not fully cleared the EIA, irrelevant as it was.

The digging itself poses untold hazards to water supply and soil, but in the aftermath of the Tengratila explosion, the planned route is simply insanity. A fire hazard is even more dangerous when there is a high amount of fuel present, and trees provide a lot more fuel than crop fields and houses. Aside from the legal issues and the importance of the National Park, if we consider the combination of drilling wells located all around the park with our appalling safety records, how did this project even go beyond the draft stage? A fire in any of the wells would create an inferno several times worse than either Magurchhora or Tengratila -- and we would lose a sanctuary of rare natural beauty and wildlife that is irreplaceable. There can be no cash compensation if Lawachhara National Park is lost: Extinction is forever. If we continue this project, we walk even more surely on the path to wiping out every other creature on this land but ourselves.

SM Abdur Rahman is a researcher and columnist.