Sara Miller Llana at The Christian Science Monitor writes:
Chevron fights massive lawsuit in Ecuador:
A case about responsibility for cleaning up a toxic drilling site could cost the company billions and send a chill through the industry.
San Carlos sits in the middle of more than 100 wells drilled in the Sacha field by Texaco, which pumped oil as the sole operator of a consortium here from 1972 until 1990. At the time, it was one of the highest concentrations of wells in the Amazonian region, and today this remote town finds itself in the middle of what could be the largest damage claim against the oil industry in its history.
The landmark lawsuit, which began in 1993 in New Yo rk and is now in an Ecuadorean court in this jungle region, alleges that Texaco, which was acquired by Chevron in 2001, knowingly unleashed toxins across an estimated 1,700 square miles -- roughly the size of Rhode Island.
This allegedly occurred in one of the most biodiverse forests on the planet. Plaintiffs' lawyers say Texaco's dumping represents 30 times more than the crude spilled in the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaska. According to a report by a court-appointed expert, Chevron could face $27 billion in damages to soil, groundwater, and drinking water -- and even for cancer-related deaths. The decision is expected any day.
Chevron says Texaco cleaned up its share of damage after leaving the country and that the state oil company, which took over its operations entirely in 1992, has not fulfilled its environmental obligations. If Chevron loses the case, it will affect more than its finances: It could reverberate throughout the industry at a time when companies big and small are searching for oil in ever more remote areas, including the Amazon basin. ....
Chevron has fought back mightily. The corporation has taken visitors to the sites they have cleaned up and point out rivers where fecal matter, not hydrocarbons, they say, has made the local population sick. |
The rescue begins below and continues in the jump.
Cook for Good explained that Lower food prices = time to support green farmers: "What's in your shopping cart? Even though the prices of organic and sustainably raised food are falling relative to conventional items, the economy may be causing you to choose food from growers and businesses that you wouldn't support in more flush times. Or maybe it is having the opposite effect: you are supporting even better businesses than usual."
The Overnight News Digest is posted and includes the story, OAS Lifts Ban On Cuba After 47 Years.
spktruth2power had a little problem with the fact that Monsanto’s Terminator Might Be Making a Comeback: "Monsanto and its cohorts in crime promised us that they would not be using Terminator technology called GURT, or genetic use restricted technology. In fact, the United Nations actually issued a moratorium on the project. So we’re safe, right? Wrong."
A Siegel expressed his delight in Response to "Paper or Plastic" now "Five Cents Please": "Plastic bags are a scourge on the globe. From the plastic ocean in the Pacific, to the stomachs of choked birds, to the fences of highways, the trillion (or more) of annual bags are infrequently reused or recycled and often don't even make it into the dump. Facing increasing levels of pollution on the Anacostia River, with a high percentage of collected trash being a rainbow of colors of plastic bags, the Washington, DC, City Council voted yesterday to institute a five-cent fee for bags to help drive reduced use and, as well, to help raise funds for the cleaning of the Anacostia River."
davidwalters had an idea for a new bank in Carbon Taxes, Nuclear Energy & Renewables, and How to Finance Alternative Energy: "I don't like either the carbon tax or the cap and trade stuff I hear about. I say this because in one way or another, either the public/rate payer has to pay for this and D[angerous] F[ossil] F[uel] users still get to use DFF."
The Electrical Worker had some tough words for a "Clean" Energy Company He Says Treats Workers Like Dirt: "Covanta, which increased its earnings in 2008 to $50 million, prides itself on being an innovative, ‘green,’ responsible employer. But the vast majority of Covanta's U.S. plants are nonunion. And the company, which is seeking to develop new projects in Canada, China, Ireland, the U.K. and the Netherlands, intends to keep it that way.
gmoke attended the Insulation Slam: "These techniques of advanced insulation are rapidly coming to the fore now. National Grid is doing 10 deep energy retrofits this year, funding 75% up to $30,000 with another $10,000 if you go to net zero or Passive House standards. The MA government is also planning to build some pilot Zero Net Energy buildings as pilot projects."