Chevron Toxico video
BP buys Google and Yahoo search engine words to keep people away from real news on Gulf oil spill disaster
EXCERPT:
In their most tenacious effort to control the ‘spin’ on the worst oil spill disaster in US history, BP has purchased sponsored links at the top of internet search engines, Google and Yahoo. The top listed links direct people to BP's official company website for news and information on the catastrophe.

BP spokesman Toby Odone confirmed to ABC News that the oil giant had in fact bought internet search terms.

The words ‘oil spill’, 'BP oil spill', 'Deepwater Horizon' and 'oil spill response' are among several other related search terms that all lead to the top listed sponsored links purchased by BP.

BP has not been completely forthcomming with information on the oil spill, which has damaged the companies public image.


Ecuadorians sue Chevron video
Lago Agrio
EXCERPT:
The Lago Agrio oil field is an oil-rich area in the Ecuadorian province of Sucumbíos, discovered in the 1960s. The Lago Agrio field is known internationally for the serious ecological problems that oil development has created there, including water pollution, soil contamination, deforestation and cultural upheaval. Since 1993, lawyers representing local residents have sought to force former well operator Texaco and its now parent company Chevron Corporation to clean the area and to provide for the care of those allegedly affected.

Injustice in Ecuador
EXCERPT:
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Injustice in Ecuador
This is a guest post from Daniel Denvir on Gristmill: the environmental news blog, a journalist who recently moved from Quito, Ecuador, to Philadelphia, Pa. He is writing a book on poor people's environmentalism in Ecuador.
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Ecudaorian President Rafael Correa.
Ecuadorian government shuts down leading environmental group
Last Monday, environmentalists were shocked to learn that the Ecuadorian government had shut down Acción Ecológica (Environmental Action), withdrawing the legal status of one of South America's best-known environmental groups. Acción Ecológica has in recent months supported indigenous-led, mass protests and highway blockades against President Rafael Correa's support for large-scale mining.

Equador and Chevron
EXCERPT:
The lawsuit pits Ecuadorean peasants against Chevron over oil pollution in the Amazon and has been a major headache for the company for nearly a decade, producing a saga that underscores many of the hazards and ethical challenges of oil companies working in the developing world.

The company appeared to gain the upper hand in August when it revealed video recordings — captured on watches and pens implanted with bugging devices — that suggested a bribery scheme involving Ecuadorean officials, and possibly even the judge hearing the case.

But the company was put on the defensive again on Thursday, after lawyers for the peasants revealed that one of two men who made the tapes was a convicted felon. Court and other records provided by the plaintiffs show that Wayne Hansen, the American who helped make the recordings, was convicted of conspiring to traffic 275,000 pounds of marijuana from Colombia to the United States in 1986. He also was sued successfully in 2005 by a woman who accused him of unleashing his two pit bulls to attack her and her dog.

American Businessman Wayne Hansen
EXCERPT:
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
American Businessman Wayne Hansen Has Ties to Chevron in Bribery Scheme, Investigation Finds
New Information Contradicts Earlier Claim by Oil Giant As Questions Grow About Chevron’s Own Role
Chevron Refuses to Make Key Witnesses Available; Refuses to Release Second Video to Public; Refuses to Disclose Details of Payments to Contractor