More Chevron Truth

Chevron, the parent company of Texaco Petroleum (Texpet) has been horribly libeled in the media as well as the courtroom by opportunistic U.S. environmental lawyers looking to turn a quick buck. They were illegitimately sued for its partnership with Petroecuador, Ecuador’s state-owned oil company. Chevron has been falsely linked to genocide and that is patently false as evidenced with the steady increase of the Cofan indigenous population from 1920 to present day.

There is absolutely no basis for the claim of genocide of any indigenous group. Ecuador
government census data and all peer-reviewed published population data agree that the population of the six indigenous groups has either increased or remained stable since Texpet began operations in Ecuador. For example, demographic studies presented by Dr. Bedoya indicate that the Cofán - far from "facing extinction" as claimed by the plaintiffs and their supporters - increased in number from about 300 inhabitants in 1955 to 1,044 in the official government of Ecuador census of 2001. All government (1) and peer reviewed population estimates (23) found by Dr. Bedoya are shown in the figure below. Doctor Eduardo Bedoya has a Ph.D in Anthropology from New York University and has worked as consultant for the ILO, CARE-Perú, WINROCK Corporation, the World Bank, and the IUCN.

Cofán Population: 1920 - 2010
PARAHUACU ATACAPI
DURENO
GUANTA AGUARICO
SACHA
YULE BRA
CULE BRA
RON
ENO
PALA NDA
AUCA
AUCA
SUR
RUMIYACU
CONONACO
Rio
Napo
Aguarico
LAGO AGRIO
Rio
PALO
ROJO Cofán
HUSHUFINDI
Secoya

1970 1980 1990
Period of Texpet Concession
100
300
500
700
900
1100
1300
1500
1700
1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010
Year
1923: Measles epidemic
Period of
Texpet
Concession
155016
5003
5174
3005 3006
4007
6909
29710
40012
46013
50014
100015
78018
58019
62720
85021

The production took place primarily on government lands and was conducted in compliance with Ecuadorian laws and regulations. Roughly 1.7 million barrels of crude oil were produced, with the Government of Ecuador (GOE) receiving 95% of the total financial proceeds. Perhaps they want more because the Ecuadorian government is in collusion with fraudulent U.S.-based lawyers greedily seeking to extort monies from Chevron over these bogus allegations.

At the conclusion of the venture’s twenty-year concession, the area and facilities of the former consortium were subjected to a government-supervised audit, which, together with other Government data, became the basis for a settlement agreement under which Texpet was required to conduct environmental remediation with respect to the sites in proportion to its one-third interest in the venture. Everything was fine then.

To that end, Texpet executed a $40 million remediation and public works program under close GOE supervision. Texpet’s remediation was fully inspected, certified and approved by the GOE, and the GOE granted Texpet a full and complete release of all further claims, liabilities and obligations associated with Texpet’s operations in Ecuador.

The release documents were signed by the GOE’s Minister of Mines & Energy, the President of Petroecuador, and the General Manger of Petroproduccion—the operational division of Petroecuador. Texpet has had no role whatsoever in exploration and production in Ecuador since 1992.

Petroecuador, the sole owner and proprietor of the oil fields, had 15 years to make remediation and failed to remediate its sites even though it was more than willing to do so when it took the $40 million in funding from Texpet in 1992. The environmental degradation which still takes place today is due to Petroecuador’s poor operations and negligence, and the Ecuadorian government’s unwillingness to fund adequate remediation.

Interestingly, in 1999, seven years after Texpet ceased to have any involvement in Ecuadorian operations, the government of Ecuador enacted a new environmental statute – the 1999 Environmental management Act. This allowed any Ecuadorian to file suit for environmental reparations on behalf of the collectivity. While the 1999 EMA created new substantive rights that did not previously exist, the new law cannot be used to challenge pre-1999 conduct, as per Article 7 of the Civil Code of Ecuador, which expressly prohibits retroactive application of Ecuadorian substantive law. Nevertheless, in 2003 the very same U.S. lawyers whom have been waging this campaign since 1993 filed suit against Chevron using this same 1999 law. They should be disbarred for misrepresenting a legal statute in a transparent effort to extort monies from Chevron.

Chevron is getting blamed for environmental degradation and being illegitimately sued for an environmental crime committed by Petroecuador which accepted Chevron/Texpet’s $40 million pay-out and didn’t fulfill its responsibility to remediate the sites that were explored and extracted. A costly and long-standing legal dispute has arisen between U.S.-based contingency fee-based trial lawyers working in partnership with NGOs and local activists whose goal is to extort a large windfall from Chevron, a large and successful corporation with deep pockets. The general public perceives large corporations such as Chevron as evil-doers, and public opinion tends to scapegoat them.

The litigation in Ecuador has followed the typical pattern for such suits. The lawyers retained a consultant to devise an astronomical estimate of financial liability, which the plaintiffs have attempted to use to frighten the company into a settlement. The expert in question, David Russell, made only a cursory examination of a small handful of sites and did not seek to distinguish between damage caused by Texpet/Petroecuador consortium and damage caused by Petroecuador over the 15 years since Texpet left Ecuador. Also, they did not determine how much was the fault of Petroecuador’s and the Government of Ecuador’s negligence after they had received $40 million in funding to more than cover the costs of this operation from Chevron, as well as being signed off by the GOE upon Texpet’s agreed-upon departure.

Ad-Tech San Francisco Digital Marketing Convention - Video

This video presents sights, sounds, and people at Ad-Tech San Francisco, a digital marketing convention annually held at Moscone Center in San Francisco. What I noticed about Ad-Tech this year is that there was less space used overall but more people, and far more people of color than ever before.

Barack Obama Talks About Clinton; Draws 35,000 in Philadelphia

In Raleigh, NC, Senator Barack Obama talks about the way Hillary Clinton and ABC News ganged up on him in the debate of the previous night. Then on Friday, Obama appeared before the largest crowd of his presidential candidacy: 35,000 people. That's almost twice the number of people he drew in Oakland City Hall last year, which was 18,000 people.

The video below is but one of two that was posted on YouTube. It features Obama supporters yelling "Yes We Can."

U.S. Women Olympic Athletes on Olympic Torch, China and Tibet

U.S. Women Olympic Athletes representing the Synchronized Swim Team talk to me for this vlog about the China Olympic Torch Controversy. Kristina Jones, Megan Kenny and Andrea Nott issued a plea is to allow them to go to the Olympics and in a message to President Bush, Andrea says that an Olympic Boycott would not be effective I can't say I agree, but the point of this is to capture their point of view, not mine.

For more on the team see this account at About.com.

Pro-Chinese Protestor On Tibet - SF Olympic Torch Ceremony

Pro-Chinese Protestor On Tibet - SF Olympic Torch Ceremony

Chinese Protester On Tibet. I asked this man the question of his opinion on China's reported torture and killing of Tibetan protestors and he agreed to be filmed. The result is in my view a very chilling answer which seems quite normal to him. He says, on camera, that "Tibet shamed China." Watch the video. He says that the acts were just an example of "China managing the situation" and that such "social control" was normal. Then he says, "have a nice day."

A YouTube viewer left a rather terrible comment that I lied when I claimed that China killed Tibetan protesters, but I did not. According to the April 5th 2008 Times UK, the Chinese police killed eight people after opening fire on monks and protesters. The Chinese government sent in 1,000 paramilitary police to use force to end the protest.

ABC= Assault Black Candidate Obama Smeared by ABC News In Debate

Once again, ABC News showed its biased and unprofessional approach in this election year with a debate last night that seemed not to be that at all, but an attempt to assault Senator Barack Obama.

Charlie Gibson and George Stephanapolos should be fired for this. They were terrible. It's a good think Obama weathered the storm, but this was supposed to be a debate anyway.

Social Media Marketing - Zennie's Definition At Ad-Tech

What does Social Media Marketing mean to you? Well I was asked that question at the San Francisco Ad Tech conference and gave this answer, with a twist.

Charles E. Johnson and Tano Capital Invest $7.4 Million Into Anil Printers Limited

Tano Capital Invests $7.4 Million Into Anil Printers Limited

Charles E. Johnson and Tano Capital LLC, on behalf of the Tano India Private Equity Fund I, is pleased to announce that it has made an equity investment of INR 300 million (US $7.4 million) into India based Anil Printers Limited (“APL”). APL is a printing company that manufactures prepaid scratch cards, pin mailers, airline tickets, cargo bills, and carbon-less stationery for the telecommunications, banking, courier, and logistics industries.

Tano Capital LLC, on behalf of the Tano India Private Equity Fund I, is pleased to announce that it has made an equity investment of INR 300 million (US $7.4 million) into India based Anil Printers Limited (“APL”). APL is a printing company that manufactures prepaid scratch cards, pin mailers, airline tickets, cargo bills, and carbon-less stationery for the telecommunications, banking, courier, and logistics industries.

APL was founded by Ashokka Agarwal, who has been in the printing business for the past 25 years. APL’s clients include Reliance Telecom, Reliance Infocomm, Bharti Airtel, Hutch, Idea, BSNL, MTNL, Nu Mobile (Bhutan), State Bank of India, Corporation Bank, UTI Bank, HSBC, HDFC, Canara Bank, Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, Jet Airways and Indian Airlines.

With this investment, APL plans to manufacture smart cards and RFID labels in technical collaboration with Mühlbauer High Tech International of Germany. APL has identified opportunities for the application of smart cards and RFID technology in several areas, including driver’s licenses and national identification/security card systems such as the R.C. Book Multipurpose National Identification Card (MNIC) project.

Charles “Chuck” Johnson, Tano Capital’s Founder and Managing General Partner, said, “We are particularly excited about the strength and depth of Anil Printers management team. They have demonstrated their ability to continually adapt and reshape their core businesses in rapidly changing business environments in both up and down markets. Their impressive list of top notch clients is a solid testament to the quality of the products that they produce.”

Tano Capital, LLC is an alternative asset management firm founded in 2003 by Charles E. Johnson (formerly Co-President of Franklin Templeton Investments and CEO of Templeton Worldwide) to make private equity investments into rapidly growing private companies in India and China. Tano Capital currently has offices in Shanghai, Tianjin, Taipei, Mauritius, Mumbai, Viet Nam and San Mateo, California.

Bruce Springsteen Backs Barack Obama

Bruce Springsteen Backs Barack Obama

Like a bolt out of the blue and frankly with more empact that Elton John's Hillary Clinton concert , "The Boss" backed Barack Obama today, effectively turning the news cycle in Obama's favor and hitting a demographic group that some said Obama could not reach: White rural dwellers. This is what he wrote.

Dear Friends and Fans:

LIke most of you, I've been following the campaign and I have now seen and heard enough to know where I stand. Senator Obama, in my view, is head and shoulders above the rest.

He has the depth, the reflectiveness, and the resilience to be our next President. He speaks to the America I've envisioned in my music for the past 35 years, a generous nation with a citizenry willing to tackle nuanced and complex problems, a country that's interested in its collective destiny and in the potential of its gathered spirit. A place where "...nobody crowds you, and nobody goes it alone."

At the moment, critics have tried to diminish Senator Obama through the exaggeration of certain of his comments and relationships. While these matters are worthy of some discussion, they have been ripped out of the context and fabric of the man's life and vision, so well described in his excellent book, Dreams of My Father, often in order to distract us from discussing the real issues: war and peace, the fight for economic and racial justice, reaffirming our Constitution, and the protection and enhancement of our environment.

After the terrible damage done over the past eight years, a great American reclamation project needs to be undertaken. I believe that Senator Obama is the best candidate to lead that project and to lead us into the 21st Century with a renewed sense of moral purpose and of ourselves as Americans.

Over here on E Street, we're proud to support Obama for President.

Obama Gets Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Endorsement

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette backs Senator Barack Obama for President, writing...

...Pennsylvania -- this encrusted, change-averse commonwealth where a state liquor monopoly holds on against all reason and where municipal fiefdoms shrink from sensible consolidation -- needs to take a strong look at the new face and the new hope in this race. Because political business-as-usual is more likely to bring the usual disappointment for the Democrats this fall, the Post-Gazette endorses the nomination of Barack Obama, who has brought an excitement and an electricity to American politics not seen since the days of John F. Kennedy.

The primary is this Tuesday, April 22nd.

Fox News, Brit Hume Full Of Shit In My View: Barack's Right, We're All Bitter

Geez, these Fox News guys crack me up. Excuse me, these Fox News guys who insist on telling you or reminding you that they're old and "white male" and by that I mean exhibiting a 1950s kind of social and cultural inflexibility that prevents them from seeing social change . I'm writing about Brit Hume, Mort Kondracke, and Charles Kruthheimer, conservatives all.

They're trying to spin the whole Mayhill Fowler / "Bittergate" deal as revealing that Obama's an elitist, and a "Harvard Leftist" who does not appreciate the plight of working class people. What a bunch of total bullshit. But then I've some to expect bullshit level information from Fox News.

Barack was telling it like it is. Rural cities have been hammered by the erased manufacturing economy America was once know for, and it has not recovered. What's cropped up are people who are struggling, and some are totally pissed off with your ability to "make it" over them. To point that out is "anti-politic" whereas to avoid it is old politics at its best.

That's a fact.

Fox News was more interested in spinning a negative Obama story than telling the truth. Thanks, Mayhill, and you call yourself an Obama supporter?

More like you've been trying to shooting the captain.

Doctor Faust in 2008

The issue is honesty, justice, and fairness in American politics.

Rumors abound questioning Senator Barack Obama's commitment to a free and democratic Israel. Gary Hart says, in this piece at Huffington Post, "I find it outrageous and the height of political cynicism for any other candidate or campaign, Democratic or Republican, to question Senator Obama's commitment to continuation of the U.S.-Israeli partnership and particularly to do so in a sinister, duplicitous, and scurrilous manner by spreading false rumors. When he campaigns against the politics of the past, and attracts hundreds of thousands of young people and independents as a result, that is the kind of politics he means."

Opponents are flinging everything they can at Obama, hoping to find something - anything - that will stick. Lately his wealthy opponents, both veterans of the DC scene for decades (at least if you accept Senator Clinton's math) have had the audacity to suggest he's an out-of-touch elitist. Read about "bittergate" if you've somehow missed it, but rest assured it's backfired. If you don't know the reference to "Faust" you might not get Hart's reference, but it's about hubris, and selling one's soul to the devil.

The issue is honesty, justice, and fairness in American politics. Gary Hart gets it. He knows that Obama gets the bitter voters, and the situation in the middle east.

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