Emem Okon at True Cost of Chevron Press Conference before 2011 Chevron Shareholders meeting

I am here to represent the women of the Niger Delta who live in communities near gas flares and who suffer health issues of infertility, early menopause, miscarriages, cancer, rashes; women who fish in waters polluted by Chevron; who drink Chevron polluted water because there is no other source of drinking water; women whose traditional means of livelihood of farming and fishing have been destroyed by Chevron oil business activities; the women who confronted Chevron years back over the injustice perpetrated by Chevron in their communities. Chevron claims to recognize the value of fresh water as a fundamental social, environmental and economic resource but Chevron pollutes the fresh water in the Niger Delta with impunity. I have questions from the Niger Delta women: WHEN WILL CHEVRON STOP ENVIRONMENTAL VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN? WHEN WILL CHEVRON STOP THE TOXIC FLARES IN THE NIGER DELTA? WHEN WILL CHEVRON STOP DESTROYING THE HEALTH AND WELL BEING OF THE WOMEN IN THE NIGER DELTA REGION? If Chevron is not ready to stop the toxic flares, Niger Delta Women say:  ‘LEAVE THE OIL IN THE SOIL’

- Emem Okon, May 24, 2011

At a press conference today in San Francisco, Emem Okon from Nigeria and over one dozen community leaders from Angola, Ecuador, Indonesia, Alaska, Texas, across California, and more gathered at a Chevron gas station to expose the harms of Chevron’s operations in the communities where they live and advocate. See JINN’s photography from the event and  join JINN at the protest tomorrow at Chevron’s corporate headquarters to support those whose lives have been harmed by Chevron’s outdated practices.

All photos:  Todd Sanchioni

Proxies representing Nigeria, Ecuador, the Philippines, Burma, Iraq, Richmond and Kazakhstan return from speaking to Chevron's Shareholders - AP Photo/Paul Sakuma

JINN is a member of the diverse coalition of organizations and individuals  who wrote and released The True Cost of Chevron: An Alternative Annual Report on May 26  in time for Chevron’s shareholder meeting on May 27.  Several members of the coalition presented the report to shareholders, the board of directors and Chevron’s CEO David O’ Reilly inside the shareholder meeting.  O’ Reilly responded by saying the report belonged in the trash can and that he was personally insulted by the statements made by the proxies who represented Chevron affected communities around the world.  Read the Full Press Release from the Coalition

Our ally from the Niger Delta, human rights activist, Tunde Okorodudu was able to speak inside the shareholder meeting. He said:  “David O’ Reilly showed nothing but disrespect to all those who traveled from around the world to address the shareholder meeting, Chevron has done nothing but enable the culture of violence that now permeates my region.”

A subvertisement ad campaign, designed by Underground Ads accompanied the release of the report.

"Chevron refuses to clean up its mess in Nigeria." Ads designed by Underground Ads

Below is the announcement for the report and website with full information. Read the report and spread the word!  TrueCostofChevron.com

The True Cost of Chevron An Alternative Annual Report May 2009
Amazon Watch · CorpWatch · Crude Accountability · Environmental Rights Action EarthRights International · Filipino-American Coalition for Environmental Solidarity · Global Exchange Justice in Nigeria Now · Mpalabanda · Rainforest Action Network · Richmond Progressive Alliance Trustees for Alaska · US Labor Against the War · West County Toxics Coalition
Think you know Chevron? Think again.Chevron’s 2008 annual report is a glossy celebration of the company’s most profitable year in its history. What Chevron’s annual report does not tell its shareholders is the true cost paid for those financial returns, or the global movement gaining voice and strength against Chevron’s abuses. Thus, we, the communities and our allies who bear the consequences of Chevron’s oil and natural gas production, refineries, depots, pipelines, exploration, offshore drilling rigs, coal fields, chemical plants, political control, consumer abuse, false promises, and much more, have prepared an Alternative Annual Report for Chevron. The True Cost of Chevron: An Alternative Annual Report is a one-stop-shop for activists, policy makers, journalists, investors, analysts, and communities in struggle.It is the most comprehensive exposé of Chevron’s operations – and the communities in struggle against them – ever compiled. It includes reports from Alaska, California, Colorado, Florida, the Gulf Coast, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, Utah, Washington, D.C, and Wyoming; internationally across Angola, Burma, Canada, Chad, Cameroon, Ecuador, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Nigeria, and the Philippines. Antonia Juhasz is the lead author and editor of the report, which includes the writings of sixteen additional authors from across the U.S. and around the world and the contributions of dozens of organizations. The 44-page report is available to download at TrueCostofChevron.com – a visually stunning website using our ChevWrong “Inhumane Energy” ads that reveal the hypocrisy of Chevron’s human energy ad campaign. The report and the ads can be downloaded for free from the website, which also provides links to the organizations involved in the True Cost of Chevron campaign and more. Photo LEFT: Fire burning at Chevron Pascagoula, MS refinery, photograph by Christy Pritchett ran August 17, 2007. Courtesy of the Press-Register 2007 © All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.

copyright: ed kashi

Groups to Call for Responsibility of Oil Giant and other Extractive Industry Companies at Hearing before Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law

Earth Rights International:

Washington, D.C., September 22, 2008 – One month before it will appear before a federal jury in the landmark human rights case, Bowoto v. Chevron, facing charges of torture and wrongful death, Chevron, along with other leading extractive industry companies, will come under the scrutiny of the U.S. Senate’s Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law. In the hearing, “Extracting Natural Resources: Corporate Responsibility and the Rule of Law,” witnesses will bring to light oil, mining and gas companies’ complicity in human rights abuses perpetrated by public or private security forces in Nigeria, Burma, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Indonesia.

Nigerian activist Nnimmo Bassey, Executive Director of the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria, will testify about Chevron’s repression of nonviolent environmental protesters, which gave rise to the Bowoto v. Chevron lawsuit. Mr. Bassey will explain that use of the brutal Nigerian military forces by multinational oil companies, including Chevron, continues unabated today. He will be joined by co-founder and Executive Director of EarthRights International (ERI), Ka Hsaw Wa, who will testify about the egregious human rights violations associated with gas pipeline projects in Burma, including Chevron’s Yadana project, drawing from ERI’s fourteen years of experience documenting human rights abuses in the Yadana pipeline region.

The hearing will also include testimony from Jeffrey Krilla, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, as well as Arvind Ganesan, Director of the Business and Human Rights Program at Human Rights Watch. Embargoed testimony is available upon request.

The Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law, chaired by Senator Richard J. Durbin, was established in January 2007 and is the first Senate committee or subcommittee focusing exclusively on human rights.

Listen to the hearing on Wednesday at 10:45am EST