Chevron's Shakedown

IBD Editorials ^ | August 31, 2009 | INVESTORS BUSINESS DAILY Staff

[Kaslin]

The Law: If there's any doubt Ecuador's $26 billion lawsuit against Chevron is nothing but a scam to shake down Big Oil, check out a new video of Ecuadorean operatives who prove how justice works in that country.

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Chevron, which has been battling the most expensive lawsuit in history from Ecuadorean environmental radicals, released a video Monday showing the "political coordinator" from Ecuador's ruling party telling a couple of contractors that he'd be glad to get them contracts to remediate rain forest pollution — for a $3 million fee.

See, the fix was already in that an Ecuadorean judge would rule against Chevron on a $26 billion lawsuit. After that, the "remediation" gravy would flow. Nevermind that Ecuador's state oil company created the pollution. It was already in the bag that the judge would make Chevron pay.

The $3 million the "political coordinator" of Ecuador's ruling party tried to extort would be divided three ways: $1 million for the judge, $1 million for "the presidency" and $1 million for the plaintiffs — a radical group known as the Amazon Defense Coalition.

But little did the Ecuadoreans know, their mafioso way of getting paid so repelled the two contractors, Wayne Hansen and Diego Borja, that they recorded it.

We understand why — their 22-minute video showing the shakedown plays like a sleazy knockoff of "The Godfather." One of the contractors, who had done work for Chevron in the past, gave it to the company. The film can now be seen by anyone who cares about the facts of the case (or who just likes mafia movies) at chevron.com/ecuador. "If this was in the Onion, it would be funny," Chevron spokesman Kent Robertson told IBD.

[Kaslin]

[OneWingedShark]

Who is john Galt?

{And I haven’t even finished the book yet!}

[marron]

What most people probably know is that, first, the work was done according to the standards of the time.

Secondly, Texaco did a lot of remediation.

Thirdly, they ceded their concession (oil field and all infrastructure) back to the government oil company on the condition that the Ecuadorians also accept responsibilty for whatever cleanup remained.

Of course, the Ecuadorians didn’t keep their end of the bargain. It became a cause for the left, who used it to keep whipping up the tribes. Texaco was taken back to court again and again in both Ecuador and New York. But the fact is that they did a lot of cleanup and what remained Ecuador accepted responsibility for when Texaco gave them the field. That was the deal. If they don’t want to keep their end of the deal, they should have to give the field back to Texaco (now Chevron). But I doubt the whole thing is worth $26 billion combined. I mean, come on. Why not 26 trillion?

[twistedwrench]

You See, These guys need to come study the California Air Resources Board’s
way of doing Business. They have the extortion racket all dialed in. They just
call Chevron for a check, No Audio/Visual aids needed.

Hey it’s a snap

Here’s my favorite: $600,000.00 fine for the wrong windshield wiper fluid.
http://www.arb.ca.gov/enf/casesett/kragenauto.htm

And here’s the extended list of the other willing participants
http://www.arb.ca.gov/enf/casesett/casesett2008.htm

[richardtavor]

I have been in the Oil Business for a long, long time, and have resisted the temptation to invest in foreign countries. One company that i worked for considered investing in Russia. Their seismic indicated deposits that we have never seen in this country. However, we could never get assurances about changes of government and the implication for foreign investment. Thank G-d we never took the bait.