Cries on the Prize

Chevron throws hissy fit that anti-Chevron activists received award

Posted at 10:48 AM on 15 Apr 2008

Chevron is throwing a hissy fit over the Goldman Environmental Prize awarded to two Ecuadorian activists who want the oil company to clean up pollution in the Amazon rain forest. Texaco, which was acquired by Chevron in 2001, dumped 18.5 billion gallons of petrochemical waste in the Amazon between 1972 and 1992. Lawyer Pablo Fajardo and community organizer Luis Yanza won the Goldman Prize for spearheading a lawsuit against Chevron, saying it should be responsible for cleanup. But Chevron claims that a $40 million cleanup by Texaco in 1992 was sufficient. Chevron says through spokesfolks that the Goldman Foundation was "misled," that Fajardo and Yanza are "nothing but con men," and that "the only thing green they are interested in is money." The Goldman Foundation says its awards are thoroughly researched and fact-checked, and it continues to commend Yanza and Fajardo for taking on Big Oil.

sources: San Francisco Chronicle, Associated Press, Reuters
see also, in Grist: Meet the global activists who won this year's Goldman Environmental Prize
see also, in Gristmill: The greening of Chevron is not as impressive as they'd like you to think

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Comments: (3 comments)

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a step further

Today Chevron took out a full page ad in the SF Chronicle attacking Pablo and Luis. While we don't have the funds they do to respond in the same way, Amazon Watch launched it's own video commenting on Chevron's methods: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdJ9W39HdDU

by paulpaz at 12:20 PM on 15 Apr 2008

Who You Gonna Believe?

In the mid '80s, Proposition 65 was on the California ballot. Among other things, Prop 65 prohibits discharging pollutants known to the State of California into any water that is used for drinking. Chevron opposed the proposition with a deceitful campaign of billboard that read something like, "Don't vote for Prop 65, it's full of loopholes.

Greenpeace's response was to place Chevron logos on the billboards to let the public know what was really going on. The only thing Chevron could do after being caught with its pants down was to call us despicable.

This should be a no-brainer, except that most American humans have no brains. Who should you believe, a scumbag oil company or a universally well-respected environmental group? Wait, I need a nano second or two to allow my neurons to pass the decision to my mouth.

by Wolverine at 7:53 PM on 15 Apr 2008

jamming

Wow, wolverine, that is one of the best culture-jamming efforts I've ever read about. Must have been quite a sight. It also must have pissed off the marketing whores who ordered and designed it.

The mellotron is your friend.

by archigeek at 8:04 AM on 16 Apr 2008

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