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Ned Potter is the science correspondent for ABC's "World News with Charles Gibson." He has reported on such topics as space exploration, the human genome and climate change.
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The 'Green Nobel Prize'
April 14, 2008 1:17 PM
Rosa Hilda Ramos, say her admirers, took on the polluters and won. She's a local activist in Puerto Rico, in Cataño, a low-income section of San Juan.
Today she will be cited as one of the six winners of this year's Goldman Environmental Prizes, sometimes described as the 'Green Nobel Prize.' The award, in her case, is $150,000, though she's apparently unlikely to keep the money for herself.
Cataño is reported by the EPA to have the highest rates of cancer and respiratory disease in Puerto Rico, and environmental groups blamed PREPA, the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority. After her mother died of cancer in 1990, Ms. Ramos formed an activist group and brought suit against the power company.
Eventually the EPA stepped in, and after a long legal battle, PREPA paid $7 million in fines. Ms. Ramos lobbied the EPA to take the money and use it to protect a nearby wetland -- valuable as open space in an industrial area, and as a natural buffer against the threat of flooding.
The Goldman prizes, awarded annually since 1990, come from a foundation set up by Richard Goldman and his late wife Rhoda (she was a descendant of Levi Strauss, the blue jeans maker).
Of course, the environmental crusaders cited by the Goldman foundation are less than appreciated by the companies with which they did battle; witness the case of two other winners, Pablo Fajardo and Luis Yanza, from Ecuador. They did battle with Texaco, which they alleged spilled 17 million gallons of oil into waterways and soild in the Ecuadorian Amazon from 1964 to 1990.
Texaco has since been bought by Chevron, which has a posted its side of the argument HERE, and issued a statement objecting to the award: "Chevron regrets that the organizers of the Goldman Environmental Prize were skillfully misled into naming Mr. Fajardo and Mr. Yanza as prize winners.
"While both Mr. Fajardo and Mr. Yanza are being lauded as environmental crusaders, the truth is their actions have protected the culprit -- state-owned oil company Petroecuador. They have even tried to block clean up efforts and extended miserable conditions for those they say they are defending.
"These two men have twisted the facts in a legal case waged against Chevron for pure financial gain. Fictitious claims of cancer made by their associates have been thrown out of Federal Court in San Francisco. Mr. Fajardo and Mr. Yanza are ignoring the ongoing pollution in Ecuador by Petroecuador and are using it to seek billions of dollars in damages for decades ago operations in the region by Texaco Petroleum. Chevron became a convenient but unjust lawsuit target after it acquired Texaco in 2001."
(Photo above of Ms. Ramos by Tom Dusenbery for the Goldman Prize.)
April 14, 2008 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (6)
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While some of the claims against the oil companies may be unjust, there's certainly enough blame to go around. If they don't directly pollute through accident or poorly thought out operations, their product can usually find its way into the environment through the world's apparent addiction to oil and its byproducts. More needs to be done to utilize alternate energy sources.
Posted by: Andy | Apr 14, 2008 2:58:38 PM
This is like the Bush Administration playbook (not surprisingly): deny everything to the end and smear all critics, ignoring the law when necessary.
Posted by: jock59801 | Apr 14, 2008 3:04:56 PM
Hardly surprising, Jock59801, since both Bush and Cheney are oil men. Fat lot they care about anything else.
Posted by: Andy | Apr 14, 2008 4:31:37 PM
I agree - vote for a "green" Clinton if you want the same moldy old politics that have been stagnating for decades for yet ANOTHER 4 years (or more).
Posted by: Publius | Apr 14, 2008 4:42:03 PM
Amen, Ozark_Sunshine. This is about oil companies and the environment, not Bush and his involvement in oil. Libs do tend to harp about how they are so compassionate, yet reserve plenty of hate for those who disagree w/ them. Nice compassion there, libs...nice. I'm just glad that oil hasn't yet contaminated the James & Finley rivers and the bass are still bitin' & fightin'! But something does need to be done about regulating oil companies and finding alternate energies.
Posted by: Ozark_BassMaster | Apr 15, 2008 10:05:06 AM
Want to protect the earth and save energy? Then stop all wars, conflicts and terrorism. How do you do that? Make the United States free of foreign oil. When the US is energy independent there will be no more oil wars and the terrorists will no longer be able or interested in reaching us. This will save lives AND energy. Let's study what Denmark, France, Brazil, and Australia have done on diversifying their energy supplies and do likewise. Let's drill wherever we have oil and put a new nuclear power plant in every state. Let's use all our coal and natural gas. We don't need foreign energy. And we will be safer, greener, and richer with out it. All of the earth’s natural resources will be eventually used by someone at some time. Would your rather these resources be recovered in an ecological friendly and sustainable way by the US or that some dictator who could not care less about the environment exploit the earth. All alternative sources of energy will take decades to bring online because their conversion efficiencies are not yet high enough. Eventually, the US will lead the world into a sustainable green economy, but energy independence comes first. It is the low hanging fruit and gives immediate benefits now.
Posted by: poetryman69 | Apr 20, 2008 4:31:35 PM
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