June 9th, 2010 by Editor

If there isany goodthat has emerged from the Gulf oil spill, perhaps it’s the harsh reality that our addiction to fossil fuel comes with a laundry list of environmental consequences that we arefinally beginning to grasp.

We can no longer justify, turn a blind eye or reserve our energy concerns for a rainy day because with each day that passes, new eco-system casualties are being documented…and if you’ve seenany of the photos, it’s an absolutely heart-wrenching scene out there.

That’s why the latest news about documentary filmmakerJoe Berlinger’s mini-success in court is so timely.

Following the release of his 2009 movie CRUDE –which documents the continuing sagaof Equadorian natives who say that oil giant Chevron decimated the Amazon jungle and the health of their people during the company’s 30 year Lago Agrio oil field exploration –  just last month, the deep pocketed corporation somehow managed to get a federal judge to orderBerlingerto hand over more than 600 hours of leftover documentary footage.

Chevron was hoping that by combing through the documentarian’s scads of videotape, they might be able to conjure up some sort of misconduct or fraudulent evidence that could enable them to say buh-bye to the hefty $27 billion class action lawsuit that has been haunting them for well over one year.

Bear in mind that this has been a painfully drawn out case with many twists and turns, so being cautiously optimistic about teamBerlinger, while nice, might be somewhat naïve.

A full hearing will occur in July, at which time “the appellate court could decide to merely narrow the scope of the subpoena” and order thatBerlingerhand over the footage anyway.

Fingers crossed that at least ONE oil company gets their head served to them on a big fat bank-account-busting platter.

ViaGuardian&Variety

By Elizah Leigh
Found on the net by our news bot

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March 8th, 2010 by Editor

WillJames Cameronslam Chevron at tonight’s Oscars? Rebecca Tarbotton, Acting Executive Director of the Rainforest Action Network,is hoping for just that.

Drawing a comparison between the story of Avatar and the real-life drama of the Indigenous Ecuadorean people who are battling Chevron, Tarbotton is calling on the award winning director to stand by his promise to use the movie to inspire mass environmental activism. If Avatar wins an Oscar, she hopes Cameron will expose Chevron’s actions in Ecuador during his acceptance speech.

According toChevronToxico, from 1964 to 1990 while drilling in the Ecuadorian Amazon, Texaco – which merged with Chevron in 2001 – dumped more than 18 billion gallons of toxic wastewater and spilled approximately 17 million gallons of crude oil in the region. Illegal environmental practices resulted in contamination of soil, groundwater, and surface streams which has caused the indigenous people to suffer cancers, birth defects, and miscarriages. Through the largest environmental class-action lawsuit of all time, Ecuadorians are demanding that Chevron clean up the mess it inherited.

Tarbotton writes, “If DirectorJames Cameronaccepts an Academy Award … he should also let his legions of fans know that while Pandora is fictional, what is happening to communities in Ecuador because of Chevron’s actions is as real as it gets.”

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By Daelyn Fortney
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