Iraq/Islamic State: ISIL Is Lighting Oil Wells on Fire as They Retreat, and No One Is Paying Attention

Jan 18, 2018 | Zoë Schlanger, Quartz
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When ISIL retreats from an area in Iraq, they usually bomb anything that supports the local economy. Most of the time, that means they bomb oil fields and refineries. A burning oil field is a terrible thing. The fire typically takes months to put out. The thick black smoke blots out the sky and the soot coats everything—buildings, streets, people’s skin. White sheep turn completely black. There is virtually no international funding allocated to clean it up, according to Wim Zwijnenburg, the lead researcher of a report on conflict pollution in Iraq published in November 2017 by PAX, a non-governmental organization focused on world peace. That means when a village or city is liberated from ISIL, residents return to extremely polluted air, poisoned soil, and waterways clogged with crude oil.