The folks over at Rainforest Action Network say it pretty well:
Why is this so appalling? Mainly because Chevron has never met a community it wasn’t willing to pollute if there were profits to be made, which could be seriously bad news for the Gulf Coast residents still reeling from last year’s spill. Chevron doesn’t have the best track record when it comes to protecting the environment, and the company will do whatever it takes to avoid cleaning up its messes. Just ask the people of Ecuador, or the people of Nigeria and Kazakhstan, or even the people right here in Richmond, California — all of whom live every day with pollution from Chevron operations that the company refuses to take responsibility for.They also recap some of the lessons from last years report The Lasting Stain of Oil.
It’s clear to corporate polluters cover up evidence, don’t take precautions to protect the environment and communities, and use extensive PR to get away with environmental genocide. Chevron has been very effective with this, using their Human Rights Hitmen to avoid all responsibility for what they have done in Ecuador.
With all that has happened to the Gulf in the past year, it is incredibly disappointing that any drilling is happening, much less by Chevron. The region or our world simply doesn’t need to have another ecological disaster at the hands of Big Oil.