Excited Delirium

Stories about Excited Delirium, the Shock Economy and a little fiction here and there.

Monthly Archives: November 2009

Massive Lawsuit Against Chevron

Chevron, America’s beloved oil giant, is facing one of the world’s largest lawsuits.

The company is accused of polluting the water sources and water sheds of the Amazon, potentially destroying Ecuador’s waterways and lakes.

The original story is here and research credit goes to cryptogon.

Just a reminder to all Canadian readers that Chevron is extremely active in the tar sands of Alberta.

Full text:

Tens of thousands of Amazonians are suing Chevron, the American oil company, for poisoning their waterways in what is billed as one of the biggest environmental cases in history.

The Ecuadorean claimants said the company illegally dumped toxic waste from its oil production, which filtered into the lakes used by thousands of people for washing and drinking.

The result, they claimed, was one of the worst environmental disasters in history, which led to a public health crisis with rising levels of cancer, birth defects and miscarriages.

Some 30,000 Amazonians are behind a case to be heard by an Ecuadorean judge. Experts said the company might have to pay damages of up to $US27 billion ($29 billion).

The company said there was no proof that any illnesses were caused by its operations. It said the responsibility for cleaning the area lay with the Ecuadorean government and Petroecuador, the state oil company.

The court case is the result of the exploitation of the indigenous population by US trial lawyers and a corrupt government, according to Chevron.

The Amazon campaign has attracted high-profile supporters including actor Daryl Hannah. Chevron’s reputation for corporate social responsibility has already taken a blow.

The issue is the subject of Crude, a critically acclaimed documentary. The rags-to-riches tale of the most senior Ecuadorean lawyer fighting the case has earnt it a place on the front cover of Vanity Fair.

Texaco, which is owned by Chevron, started operating in Sucumbios, Ecuador, in 1964. Over 26 years it made more than $500 million, producing 1.7 billion barrels of oil. As the operator of a consortium with Petroecuador, it drilled hundreds of wells.

Pits were created for each well in which to put the water produced as a byproduct of the oil. Those fighting Chevron claimed that the 68 billion litres of water in the pits were toxic and were allowed to overflow into nearby rivers. They also claimed that Texaco spilt an additional 64 million litres of crude oil.

The contamination allegedly increased cancer rates in the area threefold, and led directly to 1400 deaths.

”Texaco treated Ecuador’s Amazon like a garbage dump,” said Douglas Beltman, a former official at the US Environmental Protection Agency who is a scientific consultant to the indigenous groups.

Don’t Shoot Me: Boy Suffers From Rare Disease After H1N1 Shot

This story from MSNBC captures the essence of why I’m OK with letting other people get their shot at my expense.

As I read about how a young boy lost most of his muscle control after getting the H1N1 vaccination, this quote struck me:

Since the start of the H1N1 vaccine campaign, the CDC has repeatedly warned that certain conditions, such as miscarriage, heart attack and even GBS occur regardless of immunization, and officials have urged the public not to blame the vaccine for the illnesses, but to report promptly any suspected side effects.

And of the reported 4,000 plus people that have died from H1N1 (without any indication of time period), some of those people actually had H1N1.

Meanwhile, in Canada, I read a report that the original estimated cost per vaccination was $16.  Very reasonable, I suppose.

However, now that the media has done a sufficient job of whipping the public into a frenzy, that price has nearly doubled to $30.

When the Conservative government promised Canada that all Canadians would have access to the vaccine, did they not think to book the original price in a contract?  What kind of business people are these folks?

And what picture does that paint of the supplier?  Should this 100% increase in price (with no limit in place) be considered extortion?

It’s a good thing Canadians have bottomless pockets.

Jason Kenney’s View of the World (But Not Canada’s)

Myblahg.com has a great spoof of Jason Kenney’s view of the world.

The fact that these people run our country is disgusting enough, but the fact that they’re rewriting our description of what it means to be a Conservative Canadian is reprehensible.  Why did this document have to be rewritten?  Only so that people like Jason Kenney could pick a fight with non-white, non-Christian people that might have possibly considered moving to Canada.

The US is getting more attractive every day.

I yearn for a party that will dethrone these buffoons.