Chevron Admits Guilt in Brazil Offshore Oil Spill

[Judi Lynn]

Chevron Admits Guilt in Brazil Offshore Oil Spill
By Rachel Bogart | Yahoo! Contributor Network – 3 hrs ago..

Chevron has admitted to causing an off spill off the coast of Brazil. Although the spill began more than a week ago close to where Chevron was drilling, the oil giant had not acknowledged with certainty that its drilling, 230 miles northeast of Rio de Janeiro, was what caused the oil to begin seeping from the bottom of the ocean.

Chevron began plugging the exploratory well with cement and most of the leaked oil is floating about 3 feet below the ocean's surface while moving away from the coast. Here are some facts about the spill:

* The Global Post reported Brazilian federal police began probing the spill and found Chevron had drilled 1,500 feet deeper than the government had allowed.

* According to the Washington Post, Brazilian officials noted the energy company was not prepared for the leak and that Chevron personnel told investigators the company was "completely unprepared to handle an emergency such as this."

More:
http://news.yahoo.com/chevron-admits-guilt-brazil-offshore-oil-spill-171600540.html

[Peace Patriot]

1. We apparently have a Chevron-Texaco operative here who unrecc'ed this thread.

Why would anyone who WASN'T a Chevron-Texaco operative do so--unrec a thread about Chevron-Texaco's oil spill in Brazil?

It would be interesting to know who it is. I think the rec/unrec function shouldn't be anonymous.

There are a couple of fascinating things in this article. One is how swiftly Brazilian police acted to discover Chevron-Texaco's violations of their permits. (Compare and contrast with the U.S. coddling of, and covering up for, BP.) Another is Chevron-Texaco's apparent understanding that Brazil's leftist government will not let them get away with this (thus, they have had to own up to the spill). And another is Chevron-Texaco's vastly different behavior toward Brazil--with its huge economy, massive land base and resources, and massive population, and consequent clout, especially with a kickass leftist government--compared to Chevron-Texaco's behavior toward much smaller Ecuador--a country they feel freer to bully--and toward the Indigenous tribes in Ecuador who sued them for laying waste to a portion of the Ecuadoran Amazon rainforest the size of Rhode Island, with massive spills of oil and oil sludge. Ecuador's court ruled against Chevron-Texaco and awarded multi-millions to the Indigenous tribes. Chevron-Texaco--with its batteries of high-priced lawyers--has now filed suit against these tribes in a U.S. court to overturn the Ecuadoran ruling. (Talk about arrogance!) (Ecuador has a leftist government but it is more vulnerable than Brazil's and has been a specific target of the U.S. government and our Corporate Rulers.)

It may also be that Chevron-Texaco has learned some P.R. lessons from the disrepute they have suffered, as a result of their ill treatment of the Ecuadoran indigenous tribes. They may understand that the Brazilian government--a leftist ally of Ecuador--knows very well what they did in Ecuador and how they have behaved since. Also, Brazil's government--empowered by and given ideas by another ally, Venezuela--knows that they don't need U.S. oil corporations and that other countries and corporations around the world will beat down their doors to get the oil contracts. Oil extraction has to be done on Brazil's terms. Venezuela was the pioneer of that right. Brazilian and Venezuelan government officials have often met and discussed such issues (notably, monthly meetings between President Chavez and Brazil's recent former president, Lula da Silva--a relationship that Brazil's new president, Dilma Rousseff--Lula's former chief of staff--will likely continue. Rousseff was imprisoned and tortured by Brazil's U.S.-backed dictatorship, when she was young--something she is not likely to forget--and clearly hasn't forgotten--in dealing with the U.S.)

Another thing that I am impressed with, in this article, is that 'Chevron personnel" were upfront with the Brazilian investigators (told them that Chevron was "completely unprepared to handle an emergency such as this"). Clearly, they feel protected, in speaking honestly--and they feel that they will be listened to. The dynamics of this, yet another corporate negligence catastrophe, is already very different from what we see here. Quick disclosure. Quick assignment of blame and liability. And--I expect--swift cleanup and swift consequences for Chevron.

I read somewhere that the victims of the Exxon-Valdez spill in Alaska STILL haven't received payment from Exxon Mobil. I don't think that's going to happen in Brazil.