ENERGY WITHOUT CONSCIENCE This page intentionally left blank ENERGY WITHOUT CONSCIENCE Oil, Climate Change, and Complicity David McDermott Hughes Duke University Press Durham and London 2017 © 2017 Duke University Press All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America on acid- free paper ♾ Cover designed by Matthew Tauch Typeset in Arno Pro & Meta by Graphic Composition, Inc., Bogart, GA. Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data Names: Hughes, David McDermott, author. Title: Energy without conscience : oil, climate change, and complicity / David McDermott Hughes. Description: Durham : Duke University Press, 2017. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: lccn 2016035965 (print) | lccn 2016037765 (ebook) isbn 9780822363064 (hardcover : alk. paper) isbn 9780822362982 (pbk. : alk. paper) isbn 9780822373360 (e-book) Subjects: lcsh: Energy industries—Environmental aspects. | Energy industries—Moral and ethical aspects. | Slavery— Trinidad and Tobago—Trinidad—History. | Petroleum industry and trade—Colonies—Great Britain. | Petroleum industry and trade—Trinidad and Tobago—Trinidad. Classification: lcc hd9502.t72 h84 2017 (print) | lcc hd9502.t72 (ebook) | ddc 338.2/72820972983—dc23 lc record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016035965 Cover credit: Close-up of pitch at the world's largest natural pitch lake, Trinidad, 2007. Photo © Robert Harding. FOR JESSE AND SOPHIA This page intentionally left blank CONTENTS Acknowledgments ix Introduction 1 PART I. ENERGY WITH CONSCIENCE 1. Plantation Slaves, the First Fuel 29 2. How Oil Missed Its Utopian Moment 41 PART II. ORDINARY OIL 3. The Myth of Inevitability 65 4. Lakeside, or the Petro- pastoral Sensibility 95 5. Climate Change and the Victim Slot 120 Conclusion 141 Notes 153 References 165 Index 183 This page intentionally left blank ACKNOWLEDGMENTS As a scholar of southern Africa, I came to Trinidad and Tobago rather un- prepared. Individuals, rather than institutions, took me under their wing and inducted me into the secrets of the country and its oil sector. Among these friends, I want especially to thank Gerard and Alice Besson, Joan Dayal, Dax Driver, Simone Mangal, Jeremy and Michelle Matouk, Patri- cia Mohammed, Krishna Persad, Marina S alandy- Brown, Mary Schorse, Eden Shand, Teresa White, and Mark Wilson. My informants, who include many of these people, assisted the research and, obviously, made it possi- ble. These women and men are too many to name, and more than a few wish their identities to remain confidential. In the course of the research and writing of this book, four of my informants passed away: Norris Deon- arine, Rhea Mungal, Denis Pantin, and Julian Kenny. In all but the last case, these environmental activists died young and unexpectedly. Their loss im- poverishes Trinidad and Tobago of voices that could grapple critically with hydrocarbons. Some of the protagonists in this book will disagree violently with its tone and conclusions. I hope they will find their views fairly repre- sented, if also sufficiently refracted to teach something new. In the United States, colleagues and student colleagues helped beat the manuscript into shape. With gratitude, I acknowledge Hannah Appel, Jacob Campbell, Isaac Curtis, Daniel Goldstein, Angelique Haugerud, Dorothy Hodgson, Judith Hughes, Enrique Jaramillo, Mazen Labban, Ar- thur Mason, Melanie McDermott, Benjamin Orlove, Peter Rudiak- Gould, Marian Thorpe, Michael Watts, and Paige West. For images, primary doc- uments, critical commentary, or pivotal conversations, I am indebted to Andrew Matthews, Gerard Besson, Selwyn Cudjoe, Marlaina Martin, Mike Siegel, Genese Sodikoff, Steven Stoll, Humphrey Stollmeyer, Anna Tsing, and Richard York. I benefited from speaking engagements at Bard College, Brown University, Carleton University, Columbia University, Dartmouth