Oil and Indians Don't Mix
Friday, June 12, 2009
by Greg Palast
For Air America Radio's Ring of Fire
There's an easy way to find oil. Go to some remote and gorgeous natural sanctuary, say Alaska or the Amazon, find some Indians, then drill down under them.
If the indigenous folk complain, well, just shoo-them away. Shoo-ing methods include: bulldozers, bullets, crooked politicians and fake land sales.
But be aware. Lately the Natives are shoo-ing back. Last week, indigenous Peruvians seized an oil pumping station, grabbed the nine policemen guarding it and, say reports, executed them. This followed the government's murder of more than a dozen rainforest residents who had protested the seizure of their property for oil drilling.
Again and again I see it in my line of work of investigating fraud. Here are a few pit-stops on the oily trail of tears:
In the 1980s, Charles Koch was found to have pilfered about $3 worth of crude from Stanlee Ann Mattingly's oil tank in Oklahoma. Here's the weird part. Koch was (and remains) the 14th richest man on the planet, worth about $14 billion. Stanlee Ann was a dirt-poor Osage Indian.
Stanlee Ann wasn't Koch's only victim. According to secret tape recordings of a former top executive of his company, Koch Industries, the billionaire demanded that oil tanker drivers secretly siphon a few bucks worth of oil from every tank attached to a stripper well on the Osage Reservation
where Koch had a contract to retrieve crude.
Koch, according to the tape, would, "giggle" with joy over the records of the theft. Koch's own younger brother Bill ratted him out, complaining that, in effect, brothers Charles and David cheated him out of his fair share of the looting which totaled over three-quarters of a billion dollars from the Native lands.
The FBI filmed the siphoning with hidden cameras, but criminal charges were quashed after quiet objections from Republican senators.
Then there are the Chugach Natives of Alaska. The Port of Valdez, Alaska, is arguably one of the most valuable pieces of real estate on Earth, the only earthquake-safe ice-free port in Alaska that could load oil from the giant North Slope field. In 1969, Exxon and British Petroleum companies took the land from the Chugach and paid them one dollar. I kid you not.
Wally Hickel, the former Governor of Alaska, dismissed my suggestion that the Chugach deserved a bit more respect (and cash) for their property. "Land ownership comes in two ways, Mr. Palast." explained the governor and pipeline magnate, "Purchase or conquest. The fact that your granddaddy chased a caribou across the land doesn't make it yours." The Chugach had lived there for 3,000 years.
No oil company would dream of digging on the Bush family properties in Midland, Texas, without paying a royalty. Or drilling near Malibu without the latest in environmental protections. But when Natives are on top of Exxon's or BP's glory hole, suddenly, the great defenders of private property rights turn quite Bolshevik: lands can be seized for The Public's Need for Oil.
Some Natives are "re-located" through legal flim-flam, some at gunpoint. The less lucky are left to wallow, literally, in the gunk left by the drilling process.
Take a look at this photo here, taken in the Amazon rainforest in Ecuador. It's from an investigation that I conducted for BBC TV, now in the film "Palast Investigates." I'm holding up a stinking, black glop of crude oil residue pulled from an abandoned Chevron-Texaco waste pit. A pipe runs from the toxic pit right into the water supply of Cofan Indians.
Chief Emergildo Criollo told me how oil company executives helicoptered into his remote village and, speaking in Spanish - which the Cofan didn't understand - "purchased" drilling rights with trinkets and cheese. The Natives had never seen cheese. ("The cheese smelled funny, so we threw it in the jungle.")
After drilling began, Criollo's son went swimming in his usual watering hole, came up vomiting blood, and died.
I asked Chevron about the wave of poisonings and deaths. According to an independent report, 1,401 deaths, mostly of children, mostly from cancers, can be traced to Chevron's toxic dumping.
Chevron's lawyer told me, "And it's the only case of cancer in the world? How many cases of children with cancer do you have in the States? ... They have to prove that it is our crude," which, he noted with glee, "is absolutely impossible."
Big Oil treats indigenous blood like a cheap gasoline additive. That's why the Peruvians are up in arms. The Cofan of Ecuador, more sophisticated, and less violent, than their brothers in Peru, have taken no hostages. Rather, they have heavily armed themselves with lawyers.
But Chevron and its Big Oil brethren remain dismissive of the law. This week, Shell Oil, to get rid of a nasty PR problem paid $15 million to the Ogoni people and the family of Ken Saro-Wiwa for the oil giant's alleged role in the killing of Wiwa and his associates, activists who had defended these Niger Delta people against drilling contamination. Shell pocketed $31 billion last year in profits and hopes the payoff will clear the way for a drilling partnership with Nigeria's government.
Congratulations, Shell. $15 million: For a license to kill and drill, that's quite a bargain.
***
This weekend on Air America Radio, catch Greg Palast on the oil wars on 'Ring of Fire,' hosted by Mike Papantonio and Bobby Kennedy Jr.
Father's Day is coming up. Isn't it time you told Dad the truth? And no one tells the truth with more info-fueled flare than Greg Palast ("A cross between Seymour Hersh and Jack Kerouac." - Buzzflash).
Get dad a signed copy of Greg's new DVD, Palast Investigates: From 8-Mile to the Amazon, for a minimum tax-deductible donation of $40 to the Palast Investigative Fund, a 501c3 educational foundation. Include your dad's name, and Greg will personalize it.
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I recorded some material on the topic of the Peruvian government's criminal conduct toward indigenous people's in the Amazon for the benefit of foreign oil companies last summer. That material can be heard in episode 143 of the C-Realm Podcast: Catalyst Amazonia.
http://c-realmpodcast.podomatic.com/entry/2009-03-04T13_39_16-08_00
The struggle for the Peruvian Amazon has been a long one. Glad to see Palast on the case. If anyone can connect the dots back to the Fujimori administration, and the "School of the Americas", it will be him.
All their skullduggery came to a culmination during the last 2 years of the 2nd Bush administration, in a short time accomplishing the theft of 75% of the Peruvian Amazon.
This work began under Bush the First, much more stealthfully, in such a way that the opponents of his puppet (from Japan, mind you, and this is interesting for many reasons), were clearly framed as terrorists.
Now front man Fujimori has been imprisoned, we are to believe that the ruling class is cleansed of its crimes.
But this time the cries of "terrorism" ring hollow, but is it clear the Alan Garcia is just another in a long line of plunderers, and his work has been to rushed to remain credible.
We much look to our elected president to reverse our policy toward Peru, because this is the nexus of the important issues of his campaign. The Tropical Rainforest is an essential buffer against global warming - this was accepted science even prior to the greenhouse effect, and it is home to people of color who still posses the "Audacity of Hope".
Wake up Barack! In the name of Peace, Justice and Sustainability, It is time to prove to us who you are!
Thanks, Greg for provoking me.
Have you can yourself a ticket to Lima?
Oil and Indians Don't Mix.
I liked the article. Need to correct; Need to changed $3 (three dollars?) to ???
In the 1980s, Charles Koch was found to have pilfered about $3 worth of crude from Stanlee Ann Mattingly's oil tank in Oklahoma. Here's the weird part. Koch was (and remains) the 14th richest man on the planet, worth about $14 billion. Stanlee Ann was a dirt-poor Osage Indian.
Amazon Watch has a page for updates on the ongoing conflicts in Peru here:
http://amazonwatch.org/peru-protests.php
There's also a form to send a letter to Peruvian government officials demanding that they take steps to end the violence and respect indigenous peoples' rights, and a way to donate to an emergency fund for victims of the police attacks.
You can learn a whole lot more about Chevron's shameful history in Ecuador here:
http://chevrontoxico.com/
I frankly find this article extremely upsetting. The presentation of facts show a poor choice of emphasis, downplaying the massacre of the Peruvians this week, chosing to mention their 'execution' of the guards first! What is with you? Can't you understand the horror that is occuring for the sake of oil? That lead sentance should alert any aware person that your criteria is not to expose the nightmare, but to justify it? Shame on you, Mr. Palast. I'll no longer take your articles seriously if this is the slant you are going to put on something this blatantly evil.
If your interested in the theft of native lands for oil, urainium, and coal, here's three books you can look into,
PARADIGM WARS, Indigenous Peoples Resistance to Globalization, Edited by Jerry Mander and Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, published by Sierra Club Books
Blood of the Land, the government and corporate war against the American Indian Movement, by Rex Wyler, Everest House publishers, New York
SAVAGES, by Joe Kane, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. publishers, distributed by Random House, New York
I am glad someone is looking out for the "Indians" indigenous people of the Americas. Across in Africa, the story is the same. The Ogoni poet Ken Sarawiwa was hanged by the government of Nigeria for advocating for the people of Ogoniland. Shell pumps effluent into the drinking water of the Niger delta which used to be full of fresh, drinkable water. When asked about this at a board meeting in London in the 80",a Shell executive assured the shareholders that they were following the environmental policies of the people of the Delta. Now the people always throw their waste into the rivers, and they wash away, leaving water that the people have drank for eight thousand years(determined by a boat found on the northern part of Nigeria, on Lake Chad, ten years ago, and carbon tested by German archaologists) The difference is, that the people who live there have not been putting phenol and other carcinogens in the water. The Government of Nigeria colludes with Shell and Chevron/Texaco in the rape of Ogoniland and other part of the delta. This explains why there is constant war there. The people are fighting for survival, and the goernment is fighting to continue accepting bribes. The oil money does not reach the people. They kidnap and sometimes execute officials of both oil companies.Governments in power in Third World Countries, get snowed by slick talking pirates withlap tops and attache cases Somebody has to be in their corner.
I find it interesting you site lots of facts but no references. Why not substantiate them, if you can?
As well, you're dredging up stuff that happened 30 - 50 years ago and trying to make people think it happened yesterday. Get real! Prove to us that still goes on now with factual evidence and where you got it and it might be believable.
If it happened in the past, certainly no excuse for the companies and governments involved not to make some kind of generous restitution. I really don't think this is still going on or we would hear more about it. The media loves this stuff.
Edwin...The media is owned by Big Oil...and Big Pharma...
Of course this stuff goes on to this day..Peru had killings just last week..(Early June '09)30-50 years ago? Mr. Palast has more integrity than all of Congress combined!!!
Edwin,
Do you serious think that Big Oil and Energy that you know did this 30 to 50 years ago would suddenly stop doing so?
Are you stupid or something?
All one has to do is look directly at Iraq today. Are you so blind that you think that Halliburton, Exxon, and some of the other lying, thieving, and despicable are not doing there what Greg speaks of happening in South America?
Read the "Shock Doctrine" by Naomi Klein ... after reading that book... you come back here and tell us that you still think that the Oil/Energy freaks are not still doing these inhuman acts in the name of profit!
Greg,
You must be a very brave guy taking on these Bog Oil Types! That is a dangerous sport I must admit. Thanks for speaking up no one else does.
Another great book detailing corporate crime against Indian nations, and ultimately, all life on earth, since the profits they seek are based on an economic model which doesn't consider the long term impact, is In The Absence of The Sacred: The Failure of Technology and The Survival of The Indian Nations by Jerry Mander.
Anyone posting negative stuff on here clearly has not done their homework...(right Edwin?) Read any of Palast's books; or try "The End of America" by Naomi Wolf; or, perhaps read a blog like http://nafeez.blogspot.com (this one is not for the faint of heart - and it's where I found out about Greg Palast...imagine that). Here's a thought, study your history. Go back and read any credible source on Mexican history, for example. I believe that you'll find more than enough examples of graft and corruption in the oil industry to satisfy your request for "substantiation"...
Stop picking on the guy that's exposing what the world already knows is happening. While you're at it, pull your head out too...
(Thanks for the great reporting Mr. Palast!)
Thank you Mr. Palast for not being part of the dialectic the false Left V.S. Right pillowfight is killing our country, you are one of the few people who actually reports, the only issue i have is that this is a Constitutional Republic, not a Democracy, democracy is mob rule which our founders did not want
".............and to the republic for which it stands, one nation....."
A republic is a form of government in which the head of state is not a hereditary monarch and the people (or at least a part of its people) have an impact on its government. The word 'republic' is derived from the Latin phrase res publica which can be translated as "public affairs".
Democracy is a form of government in which the right to govern is vested in the citizens of a country or a state and exercised through a majority rule.
Please look into the book - Political Ponerology By Andrzej Łobaczewski it is EXTREMELY intresting
Somethings just don't change. Hope those amazon indians do all they can.
credit card for people with bad credit
uhhhhhh..... last time i checked it's not the big bad republicans and their big bad Exxon/Valdez Oil/Chervron Brothers that are squashing the peruvians. The peruvian government sold-out those poor natives to none other than...drumroll... CHAVEZ!!!! Yes that tyrant of the Southern America... OH ... I must, must, must also add that though it's the ArgenTina Social-ist Oil Machine that is sucking up over 50% of that yummy energy... the second taker at the feast is none other than....drumroll....Occidental Oil!!!! YES, you know AL GORE'S company. I love the way you left out the facts in your 'investigative' report. The only thing that you left out is how America long ago had slaves.
Continue Slanting Left....It suits you well.
Source: http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache:A5oEueOdxqgJ:www.eoearth.org/article/Energy_profile_of_Peru+Peru+Trade+Promotion+Agreement+occidental&cd=6&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
Jeepers, just wait until these folks associate this years G20 location with Aubrey K. McClendon sloughing-off 1/3rd of his Marcellus Shale gas plays to StatoilHydro (leaving Chesapeake with a 67.5% working interest 1.2 million net acres) maybe all the flaring will keep folks from freezing in the dark this winter in da Boig? MMmm... Probably finally hear about this when all that toxic (radioactive) fracking fluid gets into NYC or Philly's water... Oh, that's right, you folks drink bottled! Well at least, all the DOT sanctioned, 80% SMYS MAOP 48" pipe lines are being built in start-up Indian owned mills, where nobody knows... But that's another story!