Earlier this month, I blogged how the tar sands lobby was trying to exploit BP’s Gulf of Mexico spill. Well the pro-tar sands argument has once again been blown out of the water by a report from the social investment network, Ceres. It argues that the environmental and financial risks of producing oil in Canada’s … Read More
indigenous rights
Chevron in the Dock Again
Big Oil company Chevron may have hoped that its legal troubles as far as Nigeria were over. However, in a great victory for human rights campaigners, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco has fixed June 14, 2010 to open appeal hearings in the case.
Ecuador accuses oil firms of “abusing” country
It is the latest twist in the on-going soap opera of Ecuadorian oil. You have the Indigenous Indians fighting in the courts in a multi-billion battle against Texaco’s lethal toxic legacy – a battle that has been going on for decades. But now the tiny Latin American country is threatening to follow its powerful neighbour, … Read More
Secret Recordings Reveal Chevron “Cooked” Trial Evidence
As the 17 year old lawsuit between oil giant Chevron and the Ecuadorian Indians draws to a close, the plaintiffs are arguing that they have uncovered damning new evidence that could seriously undermine the oil company’s legal case. Texaco drilled for oil in Ecuador from 1964 to 1992, working in partnership with the state-run company … Read More
Soyinka Defends Nigeria’s Militants as Attacks Continue
They are two moments in history, intricately linked, although poles apart. Today Peter Voser, the chief executive of Shell, outlines the company’s financial and production strategy for the coming year. Once again Nigeria was mentioned as a key country where the company had added strategic reserves. “These are exciting times for Shell”, said Voser. “We … Read More
RBC is causing an “environmental holocaust”
Earlier in the week I blogged about how British banks were under fire for their investment in the tar sands. But they are not the only ones. There are also home-grown banks investing in the destruction of their own country. Yesterday, over 170 people rallied outside of the Royal Bank of Canada’s (RBC’s) Annual General … Read More
Groups Fight “Irresponsible Shell” in the Arctic
The Chukchi Sea stand-off between environmental and Alaska Native groups and Shell has taken another twist, with a new legal action to stop the oil company’s plans to drill in the region next summer. Yesterday’s challenge was filed in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals a group of Native Americans and environmental organisations including the … Read More
$3 Billion to Keep Amazon Oil in the Soil
There has been a growing movement amongst communities from the South that are affected by oil exploitation to keep the “oil in the soil.” Campaigners from both Nigeria and Ecuador have long mooted the idea, and so have some governments. For the last two years Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa has proposed that his government should … Read More
Drilling in the Arctic? Yes We Can…
The joke going round Europe is that the only reason that President Obama won the Nobel Peace prize is that he is not President Bush. It’s not who he is but who he is not, that matters. He might not be President Bush but Obama is continuing the mistakes of the Bush era. In fact … Read More
Iraq: “We have the right to ask for our rights”
When the final chapter of the dying days of the hydrocarbon age is written, the petro-politics of one nation will probably have more bearing on the outcome than any other. Whether you are reading about Africa, Canada or the Middle East –Â the country of concern will be China. (Also see Friday’s blog about the … Read More