Chevron

It's rare that I am open-mouthed at something I read - the inhumane actions of people rarely surprising me, quite frankly - but this past weekend I happened across something that gripped every conceivable dollop of shit in my system.

Mainly because it gripped it in so many varied ways.

Firstly, lets have a show of hands from all those readers who were even aware that petroleum giant Texaco (now owned by even larger petroleum giant Chevron) had been accused of dumping 18½ BILLION gallons of toxic oil waste into Ecuador's rivers and streams between 1964 and 1990.

I cannot recall ANY major news report or article on this scandal. Why is that? Has the story been somehow suppressed? It wouldn't surprise me if Texaco/Chevron had somehow managed to keep a lid on this, but you would think that in the ever-growing 'ecological climate' someone somewhere would have blown the whistle on this disgraceful corporate act?

Maybe there's just too much money and influence floating around?

Borne out by the details of an even more disgusting second act to this tale of corporate indifference.

For the past five years a lawsuit has been tried in Ecuador, which has accused Chevron of trying to squirm out of the responsibilities to clean up the rainforest and pay compensation to the many indigenous Indian peasants who have suffered physical deformities and cancer as a direct result of the disaster. A disaster, by the way, which has been described by some as an "Amazon Chernobyl".

Chevron, whose net profit for the past quarter totalled $5.98 billion ("crisis, what gas crisis?") have been resisting the charges, denouncing the Ecuadorian claim as nothing more than a "shakedown".

However, this spring a court-appointed expert recommended that Chevron pay between $7.2 billion and $16.3 billion to clean up the rain forest.

This somewhat moved the goalposts for the oil giant, suddenly forcing them to announce the decision to their shareholders and spawning the next - and quite incredible - piece of shit-gripping.

Chevron have rounded up a veritable army of lawyers and lobbyists and set them free in Washington.

That's maybe not surprising given the influence lobbyists currently enjoy. But what they are lobbying FOR most certainly is.

They are lobbying the Bush administration (an administration run by a bunch of 'oil men' remember) to.... get this.... pull all US trade preferences for Ecuador if that little country's "leftist government" doesn't quash the lawsuit

It's quite incredible isn't it?

But I'm not quite done yet. With my rectal muscles already at bursting point in the ol' shit gripping department, I can report that a spokesman for US Trade Representative Susan Schwabb has confirmed her office is "considering the request"

How can it even be considered? Why is it not immediately laughed out of the room?

The government is actually"considering" imposing trade sanctions on an entire country to punish the people of that country because they had the temerity to file suit against an oil company for creating a major ecological disaster in their rivers and streams.

After all that, I definitely need some fruit'n'fibre.