Working on this new server in php7...
imc indymedia

Los Angeles Indymedia : Activist News

white themeblack themered themetheme help
About Us Contact Us Calendar Publish RSS
Features
latest news
best of news
syndication
commentary


KILLRADIO

VozMob

ABCF LA

A-Infos Radio

Indymedia On Air

Dope-X-Resistance-LA List

LAAMN List




IMC Network:

Original Cities

www.indymedia.org africa: ambazonia canarias estrecho / madiaq kenya nigeria south africa canada: hamilton london, ontario maritimes montreal ontario ottawa quebec thunder bay vancouver victoria windsor winnipeg east asia: burma jakarta japan korea manila qc europe: abruzzo alacant andorra antwerpen armenia athens austria barcelona belarus belgium belgrade bristol brussels bulgaria calabria croatia cyprus emilia-romagna estrecho / madiaq euskal herria galiza germany grenoble hungary ireland istanbul italy la plana liege liguria lille linksunten lombardia london madrid malta marseille nantes napoli netherlands nice northern england norway oost-vlaanderen paris/Île-de-france patras piemonte poland portugal roma romania russia saint-petersburg scotland sverige switzerland thessaloniki torun toscana toulouse ukraine united kingdom valencia latin america: argentina bolivia chiapas chile chile sur cmi brasil colombia ecuador mexico peru puerto rico qollasuyu rosario santiago tijuana uruguay valparaiso venezuela venezuela oceania: adelaide aotearoa brisbane burma darwin jakarta manila melbourne perth qc sydney south asia: india mumbai united states: arizona arkansas asheville atlanta austin baltimore big muddy binghamton boston buffalo charlottesville chicago cleveland colorado columbus dc hawaii houston hudson mohawk kansas city la madison maine miami michigan milwaukee minneapolis/st. paul new hampshire new jersey new mexico new orleans north carolina north texas nyc oklahoma philadelphia pittsburgh portland richmond rochester rogue valley saint louis san diego san francisco san francisco bay area santa barbara santa cruz, ca sarasota seattle tampa bay tennessee urbana-champaign vermont western mass worcester west asia: armenia beirut israel palestine process: fbi/legal updates mailing lists process & imc docs tech volunteer projects: print radio satellite tv video regions: oceania united states topics: biotech

Surviving Cities

www.indymedia.org africa: canada: quebec east asia: japan europe: athens barcelona belgium bristol brussels cyprus germany grenoble ireland istanbul lille linksunten nantes netherlands norway portugal united kingdom latin america: argentina cmi brasil rosario oceania: aotearoa united states: austin big muddy binghamton boston chicago columbus la michigan nyc portland rochester saint louis san diego san francisco bay area santa cruz, ca tennessee urbana-champaign worcester west asia: palestine process: fbi/legal updates process & imc docs projects: radio satellite tv
printable version - js reader version - view hidden posts - tags and related articles

Two Upcoming Events to Expose Pollution, Sickness in Peru Caused by Occidental Petroleum

by RP Monday, Apr. 28, 2008 at 11:42 AM

“Oxy systematically dumped nine billion barrels of toxic wastewater into the Northern Peruvian Amazon, in Achuar territory. They’re unwilling to clean it up, so we are going to be out there on Wednesday at 12:30 teaching them how to clean up after themselves. " -- Mitchell Anderson of Amazon Watch

Two Upcoming Events ...
awatch_home_header.jpgsechzi.jpg, image/jpeg, 780x97

On Wednesday April 30 and Friday May 2, there will be demonstrations against L.A.-based Occidental Petroleum over pollution and illness caused by nearly 30 years of oil sdrilling in the Peruvian Amazon. The first event, a mock clean-up will take place at the company's headquarters, the second will be outside the annual shareholder's meeting. According to Amazon Watch, Occidental Petroleum is sensitive to this kind of publicity.

“Occidental Petroleum arrived in the Peruvian Amazon in 1971," explained Amazon Watch's Mitchell Anderson, "and then operated there for close to three decades, dumping nine billion barrels of toxic waste water into the Peruvian Amazon, devastating both the sensitive rainforest ecosystems there and the livelihood of the Achuar indigenous people [of ] both Northeastern Peru and Eastern Ecuador.

"Essentially, what Chevron did in Ecuador, Occidental Petroleum did in Peru. They made a deliberate decision to save money [by] not reinjecting the toxic wastewaters (the byproduct of oil drilling) into the earth. Instead, they decided to gouge out hundreds of open-air, unlined earthen pits and dump the toxic waste products into these pits and into the rivers and waterways of the Amazon. . . . . They dumped an average of 850 thousand barrels of toxic wastewater per day when they were operating there.

“This has led to cancer rates being higher, higher lead levels [in] blood, which leads to developmental problems in the communities.

“The lawsuit is asking for Occidental Petroleum to fund full-scale environmental remediation of the territories, [as well as] compensation for living in a degraded environment for the last 30-something years: the health affects, damage caused, displacement from their land.

“The lawsuit was filed one year ago, the judge in Los Angeles just dismissed the case on jurisdictional grounds, saying that the United States isn’t the appropriate jurisdiction for this case to be heard, that Peru is. The Achuars’ lawyers are going to decide, with the affected community, whether or not to appeal that decision or to pursue justice in Peru.”

Mitchell said that the Peruvian government has already auctioned off 70% of the land to international oil companies. “This is a modern-day Gold Rush occurring in the Peruvian Amazon for oil,” he said. However, “the Achuar people of Northern Peru have developed a very strong and explicit position on oil development in their territories, demanding no new oil exploration or production in their lands.”

He believes that for the Achuars who will be attending next week's events, this is their first trip outside of Peru.
Other participants, in Wednesday's event, will include celebrities such as Daryl Hannah, and "we’re expecting over 100-200 supporters in Los Angeles, dressed in hazardous material suits in a mock clean-up of Occidental Petroleum’s headquarters."

On Friday, May 2, there will be a rally outside Oxy’s annual shareholder’s meeting. Also, “[w]e’re going to go into the shareholder meeting on other people’s proxies,” Mitchell continued. “We actually are going to be with three or four Achuar indigenous leaders in Peru along with human rights lawyer Lily La Torre from Lima. We’re going to speak to the CEO of Occidental.”

He said that shareholders will be targeted, too. “[R]aising this issue in front of shareholders is very important as well as senior management, so they’ll know that we are going to be ramping up this campaign over the years. Occidental Petroleum should also take note of the fate that Chevron is in based on their tactics of delaying, denying, and essentially intimidating the plaintiffs in the trial out of Ecuador. They’re facing $7-$16 billion liability. We’re going to be there to tell Oxy and their shareholders that if they don’t take the right course and do the right thing in Peru, years down the road based on the evidence, they also are going to be facing a huge multi-billion dollar liability. And the shareholders should be concerned about this now.”
Report this post as:
Share on: Twitter, Facebook, Google+

add your comments


LATEST COMMENTS ABOUT THIS ARTICLE
Listed below are the 10 latest comments of 2 posted about this article.
These comments are anonymously submitted by the website visitors.
TITLE AUTHOR DATE
Wow! Bj Brown Wednesday, Apr. 30, 2008 at 3:40 PM
Wow! Bj Brown Wednesday, Apr. 30, 2008 at 3:42 PM
© 2000-2018 Los Angeles Independent Media Center. Unless otherwise stated by the author, all content is free for non-commercial reuse, reprint, and rebroadcast, on the net and elsewhere. Opinions are those of the contributors and are not necessarily endorsed by the Los Angeles Independent Media Center. Running sf-active v0.9.4 Disclaimer | Privacy