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Doubts have emerged over whether the giant $50 billion Gorgon gas project can safely bury its greenhouse gas emissions deep beneath the Barrow Island nature reserve off Western Australia, despite the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, backing the plan.
Technical experts working with Gorgon's developers, Chevron, Shell and ExxonMobil, found it was possible that carbon dioxide could leak from faults in the geological formation under the island which is supposed to act as the burial site.
Their findings were disclosed in the developers' response to complaints from the Conservation Council of WA, which argued the plan to bury the gases was highly risky.
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/50b-question-gorgon-carbon-claims-in-doubt-20090825-ey3j.html
why not let history be our guide .....
American oil giant Chevron is now the 5th largest company on the planet. But I doubt Chevron executives have had much time to savour their 'Masters of the Universe' status lately. Instead, I imagine them working overtime with their internal public relations team and mercenary army of PR spinmasters, lobbyists, and sponsored bloggers they've brought on to fight what looks more and more like a losing battle. What's got them burning the midnight oil?
Two weeks from today, a powerful new documentary film is opening in New York, and then playing in select theaters across the country.
Called CRUDE, the film tells a shocking story that Chevron does not want the world to know.
http://www.alternet.org/media/142227/%27crude%27%3A_the_film_chevron_doesn%27t_want_you_to_see/
- By John Richardson at 28 Aug 2009 - 12:10am
- John Richardson's blog
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To say that Chevron (formerly Texaco) has unleashed an environmental hell in the Ecuadorian Amazon would be a gruesome understatement.
Over the last 28 years, the company has dumped more than 18 billion gallons of toxic formation waters into the Oriente, a river that about 30,000 native people depend on for bathing, drinking and cooking.
In 1995, Chevron vowed to "clean up" the mess it had made, but the actual effort was pathetic. Less than 1 percent of the 350 drilling sites it had opened were adequately dealt with, and most of the others were simply covered with a thin layer of dirt. Leftover crude byproducts were burned off into the atmosphere.
Today, the surrounding populations continue to suffer from decades of irresponsible ecocide. Studies have linked 1,401 cancer deaths, as well as an unusually high rate of miscarried pregnancies, to oil contamination. And across many villages, children endure a variety of birth defects and disfigurements.
There is good news in all of this: the affected communities are fighting back. Their lawsuit against Chevron, first filed in 1993, gained steam in November 2008 when a court-appointed expert estimated the amount of damages to be between $7 billion and $16.3 billion. If won, it would be a step toward calling the oil giant to account. It would also send a pointed message to other huge conglomerates hoping to exploit people for profits.
Chevron, meanwhile, has promised a lifetime of jury fees and a legal quagmire to anyone who dares challenge it. It's also trying to get the charges thrown out based "judicial misconduct" - a claim that simply sidesteps the real issues.
http://www.alternet.org/story/142334/call_chevron_to_account_for_its_assault_on_the_amazonian_ecosystem