Chevron’s record profits… but no money set aside for Ecuadorians
Chevron Texaco, earned record profits last year, an astounding $23.93 Billion Dollars. Not bad for a year of economic turmoil and recession. As Americans and people around the world struggled to keep their homes and make ends meet, Chevron was rolling in the cash. It rode the wave of sky high oil prices during the summer. Please click here to view Chevron’s earnings report for the fourth quarter of ‘08 and the entire year. We all know that Oil corporations are for-profit entities, but it seems that while the rest of the world seems to be crashing and burning, their ongoing gouging seems excessive to me.
More importantly, what will Chevron do with all the record cash they made? Will they be taking responsibility for their actions, and cleaning up after themselves or taking care of people’s lives they’ve damaged in Ecuador or other areas of the world? Of course not.
This has some Chevron investors worried. Please see the quote below from an article on Bloomberg.com written by Michael Smith and Karen Gullo:
… (it is) part of one of the worst environmental and human health disasters in the Amazon basin, which stretches across nine countries and, at 1.9 billion acres (800 million hectares), is about the size of Australia.
And depending on how an Ecuadorean judge rules in a lawsuit over the pollution, it may become the costliest corporate ecological catastrophe in world history.
If the judge follows the recommendation of a court- appointed panel of experts, he could order Chevron Corp., which now owns Texaco, to pay as much as $27 billion in damages.
The case, which has languished for 15 years in U.S. and Ecuadorean courts, highlights the growing human and environmental toll of the global quest for oil.
“If they have to pay out, who takes the big hit? Ultimately, the shareholders,” says Pat Doherty, director of corporate responsibility at the Office of the New York City Comptroller, which controls 6.5 million Chevron shares in public pension funds.
‘Bad Shape’
Doherty says Chevron should settle. Otherwise, if the company loses, he expects it will file appeals in Ecuador and the U.S. for years to come, leaving stockholders in limbo.
“They’re really in bad shape on this,” he says. “A settlement would make sense. The trees that last the longest are the ones that bend.”
Of course, as of right now, Chevron has no intention of ‘bending’ or taking responsibility. What are their plans? Among other things Chevron reported that it would spend $22.8 billion in 2009 on hunting for oil, building platforms and expanding refineries, the same as in 2008.
We must hold Chevron accountable for their actions and not let them weasle out of their responsibilities. Please click here to send an online form / email to President Barack Obama to express your opinion. Obama ushered in a New Era of Responsibility in his inauguration speech, let’s start with Chevron.
