May, 23 2016, 12:15pm EDT
Affected Peoples from Ecuador and Richmond To Confront Chevron Management at Annual Shareholder Meeting
Company management to be confronted with multiple resolutions on corporate accountability, climate change, political funding and environmental protection
OAKLAND, Calif.
On May 24th, at the headquarters of the Amazon Watch, representatives of communities affected by Chevron environmental destruction and disregard for human rights will announce plans to return to Chevron's Annual Shareholders Meeting the following morning in San Ramon, CA. Speakers are from a growing network of organizations confronting Chevron on its corporate misdeeds and disregard for the environment and human rights. Two speakers come directly from communities suffering negative health impacts from Chevron's pollution. Other organizations will speak in support of multiple shareholder resolutions regarding the environment, climate change and corporate accountability.
Chevron's corporate actions are contrary to a healthy planet, healthy communities and a just world. We stand opposed to Chevron's choices to pollute our communities, our land, and our water, to use their toxic influence to buy political power, fuel climate disruption, abuse the justice system and attack its critics and victims of its contamination. We support shareholders calling for a change in Chevron's culture of deception, corruption and destruction.
Demonstrations at the Chevron Annual Shareholder Meeting will begin on Wednesday, May 25th at 7 am outside the company's headquarters at 6001 Bollinger Canyon Rd, San Ramon, California.
WHAT: A growing coalition of communities affected by Chevron's operations and environmental organizations will announce plans to return to Chevron's Annual Shareholders Meeting to denounce the company's pattern of human rights abuses, environmental destruction, and attacks on democracy. Hundreds of thousands of signatures will be delivered to Chevron's doorstep at the Wednesday meeting demanding change in the company's policies and practices around world.
WHO:
Humberto Piaguaje, Secoya Indigenous Leader, Ecuador
Lipo Chanthanasak, Asian Pacific Environmental Network, Richmond
Andres Soto, Communities for a Better Environment, Richmond
Deborah Moore, Union of Concerned Scientists
Paul Paz y Mino, Amazon Watch
True Cost of Chevron Network: Amazon Watch, Asian Pacific Environmental Network, Communities for a Better Environment, Community Science Institute, Greenpeace USA, Idle No More SF Bay, Movement Rights, Pachamama Alliance, Rainforest Action Network, Richmond Progressive Alliance, Sunflower Alliance, and Women's Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN)
WHERE: Amazon Watch office, 2201 Broadway, Ste 508, Oakland, CA
WHEN:Tuesday, May 24th at 11:00 am PDT
CONFERENCE CALL:+1-515-739-1010 code: 171929#
SPEAKER BIOS:
Humberto Piaguaje, Secoya Indigenous Leader
Humberto Piaguaje is a historic leader of the Secoya people of Ecuador's northern Amazon rainforest. Prior to Texaco's arrival in the region, the Secoya people numbered in the thousands. But the Secoya ancestral land surrounds the Aguarico River, one of Texaco's prime dumping grounds. Billions of gallons of a toxic brew of produced waters, drilling muds, and pure crude were dumped into the Aguarico and its tributaries. Because of this contamination and resulting forest loss, displacement, and culture degradation, the total Secoya population is now approximately 350. Piaguaje is the Coordinator and official spokesperson of the Union of Affected Communities (Union de Afectados por la Petrolera Texaco-UDAPT), the organization that represents the 30,000 affected people who brought the Aguinda v. Chevron litigation. He is a teacher by profession, and lives in Lago Agrio, Ecuador.
Lipo Chanthanasak, Asian Pacific Environmental Network
Lipo Chanthanasak, from Northern Laos, has proudly served as a leader with the Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN) for over a decade, working to reduce carbon pollution and ensure environmental justice. He has received the White House Champions of Change award for environmental justice. At sixteen years old, Lipo left school to support his family by farming, hunting, and fishing. The Vietnam War led him to join a Guerrilla Unit of American forces. After fighting alongside Americans, Lipo and his family immigrated to Richmond, California. Fleeing persecution, Lipo came here as a refugee and was greeted with opportunity but also faced some challenges. His community was exposed to high levels of pollution and many suffer respiratory illnesses. Lipo led advocacy efforts to curb this pollution. He joined APEN to champion local renewable energy and good paying clean energy jobs.
Andres Soto, Communities for a Better Environment
Andres Soto is a lifelong resident of the Bay Area having spent most of his life in Richmond. Andres was educated in local public schools, including Richmond High School, and is a graduate of UC Berkeley where he majored in Political Science. After graduating from Cal, Andres dedicated his life to advocating for social justice. He served as a parent advocate for fifteen years in the West County Unified School District where he served as Chair of several district advisory committees. Andres has advocated for educational equity, immigrant rights, youth violence prevention, gun control, police accountability and environmental justice. He is currently the Richmond Organizer for Communities for a Better Environment.
Deborah Moore, Union of Concerned Scientists
Deborah Moore is the Western States Senior Campaign Manager at the Union of Concerned Scientists, overseeing regional campaigns on climate, renewable energy, clean vehicles, and climate corporate accountability. UCS works to ensure that the best available science is used to make decisions that will ensure a healthy planet and a safer world. In 2015, UCS published the Climate Deception Dossiers document evidence of fossil fuel companies' climate science misinformation. Moore is currently advancing the California Climate Science Truth & Accountability Act (SB 1161, Allen), which would hold companies accountable for fraudulent business practices related to climate science. Deborah has an M.S. in energy and resources from the University of California, Berkeley, and a B.S. in physics from Reed College. Prior to UCS she directed the Green Schools Initiative and was senior scientist at Environmental Defense Fund.
Paul Paz y Mino, Amazon Watch
Paul Paz y Mino is Associate Director of Amazon Watch. Amazon Watch protects the rainforest and the rights of indigenous peoples in the Amazon Basin, partnering with indigenous and environmental organizations in campaigns for human rights, corporate accountability, and the preservation of the Amazon's ecological systems. Amazon Watch has led campaigns to hold Chevron accountable for its toxic legacy in Ecuador and other frontline communities. Paul also served as Amnesty International USA's Colombia Country Specialist and was the Guatemala/Chiapas Program Director at the Seva Foundation. Paul has lived in Chiapas, Mexico, and Quito, Ecuador, promoting human rights, environmental protection, and community development and working directly with indigenous communities. Paul is also an Associate Fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies and served on the board of Peace Brigades International USA.
For more information, visit truecostofchevron.com and chevrontoxico.com.
Amazon Watch is a nonprofit organization founded in 1996 to protect the rainforest and advance the rights of indigenous peoples in the Amazon Basin. We partner with indigenous and environmental organizations in campaigns for human rights, corporate accountability and the preservation of the Amazon's ecological systems.
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Anti-Plastic Coalition: East Palestine Disaster Exposes Need for 'Systemic Change'
"We need systemic reforms to stop the petrochemical industry from having carte blanche to profit off of poisoning people and the planet," says the international Break Free From Plastic alliance.
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One month after a fiery train crash in East Palestine, Ohio sparked an ongoing environmental and public health crisis, an anti-plastic coalition on Friday highlighted how the petrochemical industry poisons communities across the United States and called for "systemic change."
The Norfolk Southern-owned train that derailed and ignited near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border on February 3 was overloaded with hazardous materials, many of them derived from fossil fuels. To avert a catastrophic explosion, authorities released and burned vinyl chloride—a carcinogenic petrochemical used to make plastic—from five tanker cars, provoking residents' fears about the long-term health impacts of toxic air pollution and groundwater contamination.
"This is a plastics and petrochemical disaster," the global Break Free From Plastic (BFFP) coalition said Friday in a statement.
According to the coalition:
A preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) found that the train derailment was caused by a hot axle that heated one of the train cars carrying polypropylene plastic pellets, according to NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy. These plastic pellets serve as the pre-production materials that corporations manufacture into shampoo bottles, plastic cups, and other single-use items. The highly combustible, fossil fuel-derived pellets ignited the initial fire aboard the Norfolk Southern train, which led to its derailment.
In addition to the pellets, yet another plastic building block is at the heart of this disaster: vinyl chloride. Vinyl chloride is a known human carcinogen used almost exclusively to produce polyvinyl chloride, also known as PVC plastic, which is often turned into pipes, flooring, shower curtains, and even plastic food wrap. Not only is vinyl chloride toxic and harmful itself, Norfolk Southern's burning of the chemical likely resulted in dioxins, one of the most persistent and toxic chemicals, even at low levels of exposure.
In response to public pressure, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Thursday ordered Norfolk Southern to test for dioxins, a class of highly toxic industrial byproducts that the agency had previously opted to ignore in the East Palestine disaster zone.
"While we're glad to see this announcement, we wish it had come sooner," said Graham Hamilton, U.S. policy officer at BFFP. "Justice delayed is justice denied, and we expect more from an administration that claims to prioritize environmental justice."
Mike Schade, director of Toxic-Free Future's Mind the Store campaign, said that "the EPA must not only test for dioxins in soil, but also in indoor dust, sediments, fish, and on farms impacted by the massive plume."
"Importantly, the EPA should be conducting the testing itself and/or hiring independent scientists to test for dioxins, rather than requiring the community of East Palestine to rely on Norfolk Southern for that accountability," said Schade.
"This disaster is yet another painful reminder of the dangers of making, transporting, using, and disposing of chemicals in plastics, especially polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic," Schade added. "Governments, retailers, and brands must redouble their efforts to phase out PVC plastic and other highly hazardous plastics and chemicals and move towards safer solutions."
The U.S. is home to more than 1,000 train derailments per year, and according to one estimate, the country is averaging one chemical disaster every two days.
Low-income communities in the Ohio River Valley and along the Gulf Coast are disproportionately harmed by the petrochemical industry.
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"The petrochemical industry is inherently unsafe. Even standard operations pollute and damage communities, and regulators continue to fail to do the bare minimum to hold polluters accountable."
As BFFP pointed out, the ongoing East Palestine disaster "is not the only petrochemical crisis" hurting residents of the Ohio River Valley.
"Less than 15 miles from the derailment site," a new Shell facility in Beaver County, Pennsylvania "has received numerous violations and exceeded its annual emissions limits since coming online in November of 2022," the coalition pointed out.
As Andie from the Eyes on Shell watchdog group observed: "With the community already on edge, just one week following the release and burn in East Palestine, Shell activated an enormous emergency flare which, without warning, continued flaring for hours. The derailment and emergency flare are terrifying reminders of the risks the petrochemical industry poses to our community every single day."
Earthworks campaigner Anaïs Peterson stressed that "the petrochemical industry is inherently unsafe."
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Amanda Kiger of River Valley Organizing (RVO)—a Columbiana County-based group that has been working to support East Palestine residents since the derailment—said that "nobody should have their entire lives upended because Norfolk Southern and makers of these hazardous chemicals put their profits ahead of the safety of our communities and our country."
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Despite BFFP's demands for a robust, legally binding global plastics treaty that prohibits corporations from manufacturing an endless stream of toxic single-use items, Inside Climate Newsreported this week that the initial proposal from the Biden administration's delegation to the United Nations was described as "low ambition" and "underwhelming" because it "sidesteps calls for cuts in production, praises the benefits of plastics, and focuses on national priorities versus global mandates."
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Progressive groups and activists showed an outpouring of love and admiration for Karen Hobert Flynn, the president of Common Cause, after her death from an undisclosed cause was reported by the pro-democracy group on Friday.
Hobert Flynn, who joined Common Cause in 1985 as an organizer and program director, was named president of the watchdog in 2016 after serving as executive director and chair of the group's Connecticut branch.
"Today, democracy lost one of its fiercest defenders: Karen Hobert Flynn," Common Cause board chair Martha Tierney said in a statement.
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\u201cToday, democracy lost one of its fiercest defenders: Karen Hobert Flynn. \n\nMay her memory give us strength as we carry forward her legacy.\u201d— Common Cause (@Common Cause) 1677870914
Tierney continued:
During turbulent times for our country and our organization, she led Common Cause with tenacity and grace, never backing down from holding the White House accountable and never losing sight of the non-partisan vision for a more inclusive and representative democracy...
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