Badlands

Pemex

A gas leak caused a pipeline to blow

And set fire to the Gulf of Mexico.

It was horrific to see, a fire in the sea,

It was like something out of a disaster movie.

Yet it was a good day at the office for Pemex,

This explosion didn't result in any deaths.

Their death toll is over six hundred and rising,

And this doesn't include all those who are still missing

After the Guadalajara explosions of '92,

And their five hundred plus covid deaths too.

Its only their tenth major industrial accident since '84,

So they're allowed to continuing operating, there'll be many more.

They're allowed to continue refining and drilling,

Despite of all the people they're killing,

Because what's a thousand or so human deaths

When you can rake up a $114 billion debt?

They're losing $18 billion annually.

This sounds epically irresponsible to me.

Add this to their ever rising death toll,

All in the name of the black holy water – oil.

At least they're not causing too much pollution.

Wait – this just in – NASA are checking annual emissions...

Five of their six refineries are in the top twenty-five

Annual polluters of sulphur dioxide.

I can feel their death toll rising. Where are these refineries?

One is 90km downwind of Mexico City.

Air pollution is one of the biggest killers in Mexico,

And Mexico City continues to rapidly grow;

It's the city with the fifth largest population

Thanks to its rapid industrialization.

The air pollution there is six times higher than acceptable,

It is one of the most polluted cities in the world.

The surrounding mountains trap air pollution there,

All twenty-two million residents are breathing poisoned air.

But in a city so rife with pollution,

No one can accurately calculate Pemex's contribution.

So let's ignore this too. We don't need to

Know the exact figure to ask how they're allowed to continue

Operating when they kill so many and cause such damage to the environment

Just to run up a ridiculously unpayable debt.

What are they gaining? Who profits from this?

Every year they are making a loss,

And that's in the years where no one is killed!

It is so not worth all of the oil they have drilled.

What good are they doing for society

When they're not even making any money?

They help create fuel for cars, which in turn creates pollution.

They help create plastics, which in turn creates pollution.

They've killed maybe thousands in their fires and explosions,

Just to lose money and in create pollution.

They behave and operate so irresponsibly,

Environmentally, industrially, socially and financially.

Why do they still exist?

I will never understand this.

We need to shut down Pemex.