Imagine, if you will, an oil spill that in all too many ways is very much like BP's 2010 Deepwater Horizon catastrophe off the Gulf Coast. A major global oil giant, partnering on a deepwater oil rig in environmentally sensitive waters, suffers a series of accidents and then compounds the damage by trying to cover up the incident for days. Meanwhile, the size of the oil slick spreads across the sea surface. Tensions rise, as does public anger. Critical sea beds are contaminated, and a growing number of fishermen are in danger of losing their way of life. The one major difference between this episode and the ongoing tragedy in the Gulf of Mexico is this: The suffering fishermen are also completely shut out of a rigged justice system by one of the world's most powerful and unyielding oligarchies. This is exactly the maddening scenario along the coast of Bohai Bay in northern China, where a major offshore oil spill in 2011 has caused widespread environmental harm and wreaked havoc with the lives of fishermen who work there. Despite the damage caused by the oil that spilled from rigs in which an American oil giant, ConocoPhillips, has a substantial share, the ...
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