User:CBuiltother/Occidental Petroleum Controversy

Corporate social responsibility

Occidental's role in oil and natural gas exploration and production, to which they have pledged on a commitment to responsibility, has also been a source of criticism. The company states that it is "committed to respecting the environment, maintaining safety and upholding high standards of social responsibility throughout the company's worldwide operations." Critics have raised concerns about the Occidental's's historical operations in these areas.

Environmental record

Oxy states that it is “committed to respecting the environment.” Its environmental activities have been recognized by conservation organizations, but critics have raised concerns about its historical operations.

Oxy has been noted within the oil and gas industry as being among the first to employ carbon dioxide (CO2) injection for enhanced oil recovery; this technique is a means of permanent geologic storage of CO2, which could reduce future greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere.

Occidental was recognized by the EPA in 2008 as Production Partner of the Year and in 2009 for Continuing Excellence (5 Years). Occidental is a member of the Wildlife Habitat Council (WHC). According to Occidental, the WHC has certified the habitat conservation and education programs at eight of the company's sites.

Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst identified Occidental Petroleum as the 47th-largest corporate producer of air pollution in the United States, with about 1.2 million pounds of toxic chemicals released annually into the air. Pollutants emitted by the company included chlorine, antimony compounds, benzotrichloride, and hydrochloric acid According to the Environmental Protection Agency, Occidental might be potentially liable for at least six Superfund toxic waste sites.

Love Canal

Further information: Love Canal

In 1942, Hooker Chemical and Plastics began disposing chemical waste in the Love Canal region. Other companies as well as the military had used it as a chemical disposal site since the 1920s. In 1947, Hooker Chemicals became the owner and the sole user of the land. In 1952, the site was filled to capacity and closed off. Later in the 1950s, the local school board requested Hooker, after threatening to resort to eminent domain, to sell the land. The school board intended to build a school on an unused area of the dump. Hooker Chemical sold the land to the school board at $1, with the warning that the site contained waste products from the manufacturing of chemicals, and disclaimed all subsequent liability.

A school was built on the site, and later a middle-class residential district was built upon the land adjacent to the site. The construction broke through the 4-foot (1.2 m) clay seal containing the waste. In 1968, Hooker Chemical was purchased by Occidental Petroleum. In 1978, residents became concerned about unusual health issues in the Love Canal region, including high rates of cancer and birth defects. This subsequently became a national news story, and in 1980, president Jimmy Carter declared a federal emergency in the area. Residents were eventually relocated, and Occidental paid $129 million in restitution.

Caño Limón

Further information: Caño Limón – Coveñas pipeline

Occidental met with substantial resistance from 1992 to 2001 when it tried to drill for oil in the territory of the U'wa people in northeast Colombia. The locals were concerned about environmental damage and feared that development would bring strangers and invite violence to the region. There also were tribal beliefs that oil is the "blood of the earth" and should not be removed. They believed that oil infrastructure would be a target for violent leftist guerillas in the country. After years of shareholder resolutions, legal battles, protests, and a failed test well, the company abandoned the project. Repsol YPF took over the project and continues to work on it.

On December 13, 1998, seventeen civilians, including 7 children, were killed when the Colombian Air Force dropped a cluster bomb in the hamlet of Santo Domingo, Colombia, after AirScan, Occidental's security contractor, from a private aircraft, incorrectly identified it as a hostile guerrilla target. Groups such as FARC and the National Liberation Army were active in the area. Three employees of AirScan were flying the Skymaster plane from which they provided the Colombian military with the coordinates to drop the bombs. The operation had been planned by the CAF and AirScan at the Occidental's complex in Caño Limón. A lawsuit was attempted in April 2003 against Occidental by Luis Alberto Galvis Mujica, a witness and survivor of the accident. Plaintiffs claims were dismissed by the trial court. The dismissal was appealed to 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which sent the back case to the trial court to resolve a single issue. The trial court declined to reconsider the case, thereby reinstating the dismissal. The case is once again on appeal.

Maynas Carijano v. Occidental Petroleum

On May 10, 2007, a group of 25 indigenous Achuar Peruvians filed suit against Occidental, demanding clean-up and reparations for environmental damages allegedly caused by Occidental over 30 years. The plaintiffs claimed that the company violated the industry standards and the environmental regulations by dumping a total of 9 billion barrels (1.4×10^⁹ m³) of toxic oil by-products in watersheds used by the Achuar people to fish, drink, and bathe. The Achuar were represented by Los Angeles-based EarthRights International and the law firm Schonbrun DeSimone Seplow Harris & Hoffman LLP.

On March 3, 2010, EarthRights International (ERI) argued to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that the landmark environmental and public health case brought by indigenous Peruvian Achuar and the U.S. NGO Amazon Watch against Los Angeles-based oil giant Occidental Petroleum (Oxy), Maynas Carijano v. Occidental Petroleum, should be litigated in Los Angeles, where Oxy is headquartered. The appeals court will be deciding whether the oil giant will face suit in its own hometown or whether the case will move to Peru.

Other

Occidental formerly operated in Ecuador, but the government ended the company's interests in block 15 in the Ecuadorian Amazon in 2006.

Political record

Greenmail

In 1984, David Murdoch owned about 5% of the company's shares. When Murdoch called on the management to take measures to increase the share price, it chose to pay greenmail to buy back shares from him at $40.10, while the market price was $28.75.

Gore family

Occidental's coal interests were represented for many years by attorney and former U.S. Senator Albert Gore, Sr., among others. Gore, who had a long-time close friendship with Hammer, became the head of the subsidiary Island Creek Coal Company, upon his election loss in the Senate. Much of Occidental's coal and phosphate production was in Tennessee, the state Gore represented in the Senate, and Gore owned shares in the company. Former Vice President Albert Gore, Jr. received much criticism from environmentalists, when the shares passed to the estate after the decease of Albert Gore Sr., and Albert Gore Jr. was a son and the executor of the estate. Albert Gore Jr., however, did not exercise control over the shares, which were eventually sold when the estate closed.

In 1998, the US government sold the Elk Hills naval petroleum reserve to Occidental for $3.65 billion. According to the government, the reserve was no longer strategically necessary, and the reserve was sold to reduce the national debt and the size of the government. Critics cited the "no-bid" nature of the sale, together with Vice President Al Gore's involvement with the company as evidence of graft.

Safety record

OxyChem has achieved Star Status under OSHA’s Voluntary Protection Programs as being among the safest work sites in the U.S.

Piper Alpha

Further information: Piper Alpha

On July 6, 1988 Occidental's Alpha offshore production platform in the Piper oilfield in the North Sea suffered an explosion and consequent fire when a gas condensate pump was started with the pressure safety valve removed. 167 workers died in what remains the world's most deadly offshore oil disaster.