[IPodPJ]

Press release:

The Ecuador disaster is still considered the world’s largest oil-related catastrophe, though it often is not “ranked” because it was the product of deliberate planning to cut costs rather than a spectacular accident, according to representatives of the plaintiffs. “Chevron dumped more than 18.5 billion gallons of toxic waste -- about 4 million gallons per day for more than two decades -- and the world paid almost no attention,” said Mitch Anderson, an American organizer who works with the affected Amazonian communities.

Experts have concluded that Chevron discharged at least 345 million gallons of pure crude into the Amazon as part of its illegal dumping – far more than both the 11 million gallons spilled in the Exxon Valdez and the enormous amounts of crude spewing out of the BP well in the Gulf.

The Chevron Ecuador disaster poisoned an ecosystem roughly the size of Rhode Island that is even more sensitive to its indigenous inhabitants than the coastal marshes of Louisiana are to local fishermen, according to Luis Villacrecis, an environmental consultant who works with the plaintiffs.

“We have long said that the $27 billion damages number for Chevron in Ecuador is too low because it does not take into account the true restoration of the rainforest,” said Villacrecis.

“Because this is far away from the United States, and because the victims are mostly indigenous, Chevron believes it can receive a discount on the actual damages,” he added. “Whether that is true remains to be seen.”

_______________________


I encourage you all to read about this incident spanning decades, and never buy Chevron gasoline again.
 
http://chevrontoxico.com/

http://www.chevroninecuador.com/2010/06/estimates-of-bp-liability-for-gulf.html

http://www.chevroninecuador.com/2010/06/whistleblower-receives-death-threat-for.html

 

[Head Injury]

Quote:

“Because this is far away from the United States, and because the victims are mostly indigenous, Chevron believes it can receive a discount on the actual damages,” he added. “Whether that is true remains to be seen.”

They better not. Damage is damage, people are people.

 

[chesebert]

shareholder primacy dictates that board of directors will always put shareholder value ahead of incidental environmental damage caused by the excessive profit seeking, unless those damages are determined beforehand to be detrimental to shareholder value.  So, as you can see, there is always a cost benefit calculus when it comes to intentional environmental damage.  And in this case, it appears Chevron's board properly determined that it would cost the company more to properly treat/discharge toxic waste than to just dump the waste and pay a modest compensation to the region.  
 
There is nothing inherently wrong with what Chevron did - any publicly traded company, when facing the same choice, would probably make the same calculus and reach the same decision.  There is, however, something wrong with the system, with our fundamental ways of doing business and with the rules and regulations governing the system and actors within the system.    

 

[IPodPJ]

Chevron will pay because they are now facing a $27 billion lawsuit, which could grow as much as several hundred billion and bankrupt the company.  I pray it does.

 

[SoupRKnowva]

this is sad, cause chevron makes the best gas...and i cant buy BP...what is a man who cares about what he puts in his car to do??

 

[Head Injury]

Quote:

this is sad, cause chevron makes the best gas...and i cant buy BP...what is a man who cares about what he puts in his car to do??

Bike. At least practice now, because in a couple decades it'll be the only option at this rate.

 

[SoupRKnowva]

Quote:

Bike. At least practice now, because in a couple decades it'll be the only option at this rate.

dude, its way too hot out to bike to work, the humidity combined with the exertion of biking would require showers everyday when i got there.

 

[IPodPJ]

Quote:

this is sad, cause chevron makes the best gas...and i cant buy BP...what is a man who cares about what he puts in his car to do??

Get a used car and convert it to run on hydrogen fuel cells, or buy an electric car.   Or like Head Injury said, you could bike.
 
But I always felt 76 had the best gas.  Either way, I don't have a car anymore because I live so close to my office and the rest of the time I work out of my home.  If I need to use the car I drive my g/f's old Honda.
 
Regarding your objection to biking, how about public transportation?  Here in L.A. it's not very reliable but if you plan ahead and give enough time to your day you can easily make it work.  The buses here run on natural gas and have clean emissions.
 
It's no longer "people will need to start changing their ways," --- people now MUST change their ways.  How much longer do they think they can keep polluting their planet without it having an effect on their life?  Perhaps what we need is a major worldwide disaster to shake people to their core.  The problem is everyone is so reliant on technology and the modern way of life, they would be helpless in a world without electricity or other modern conveniences.  What would all the teenagers do without their precious iPhones?   I love technology as much as the next person (although I abhor texters) but if it came down to giving up technology or living in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, the choice for me is obvious.
 
I think we could all seriously benefit from a simpler way of life, at least for a few years to give us some perspective on reality.

 

[shigzeo]

It'll have to work. Governments everywhere are throwing support into homegrown oil companies the way they sanction new proposals by media companies. But eventually, the load will be too much to carry. Eventually, it will break and oil production will retard and then fail under its own weight. It will be hard simply because our complacence in the market, in manufacturing, and in research has been sky high for decades as we rested on confidence that oil production, emissions, plastics production and the goodwill of humanity will prevail. None of them will improve - the industry is wrong from the outset.
 
Sweating isn't a sin - it is only a sin because everyone prefers to lay on the lard as they drive their fart mobiles around. Get walking, get biking, get a reasonable and safe transportation system together. Cars aren't the enemy, the reliance on them and the infrastructure they create, however, is. 

 

[Landis]

Quote:

this is sad, cause chevron makes the best gas...and i cant buy BP...what is a man who cares about what he puts in his car to do??

Evolve into a winged creature.
 
Or sell your car, give me the money and start taking the bus.

 

[grokit]

Quote:

They better not. Damage is damage, people are people.

And murder is murder

 

[rhythmdevils]

I actually lived with a family in the rainforest in Ecuador that was affected by this dumping.  One of the sons in the family is very outspoken about it, and has made it his life goal to be an activist about it.  He says he saw, in a vision of his future, getting killed by the oil companies because of speaking out to the news, etc.  He accepts that as his fate, and continues his work.  While I was there I saw him get interviewed by local news, he was very passionate about it. 
 
Amazing what corporations are allowed to do.  The United States could easily stop something like this.  But that might mean no new car at the end of the year....

 

[marvin]

Quote:

Amazing what corporations are allowed to do.  The United States could easily stop something like this.  But that might mean no new car at the end of the year....

Not really unless you think that the US somehow has power over Petroecuador (the state run majority partner in the consortium that is responsible for the continuing disaster in Ecuador).

 

[itsborken]

Interesting we can talk about this but the Gulf of Mexico spill discussion 'disappeared'.

 

[rhythmdevils]

^ it just got (forceably?) renamed to something goofy like "happy fun time food thread" or something