Oil Seekers Urged to Deal with Natives not Radicals
5/26/98
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Title: Oil Seekers Urged to Deal with Natives not Radicals
Source: The Salt Lake Tribune
Status: Copyrighted, contact source to reprint
Date: 5/26/98
Byline: Lee Siegel
Petroleum geologists at Salt Lake City conference are also advised to seek ties
with moderate environmental groups
Petroleum geologists meeting in Utah got blunt advice on how to deal with
demands by indigenous people as oil and gas exploration pushes into remote,
fragile environments.
They were told to negotiate openly and honestly with natives and moderate
environmental and human-rights groups, but ignore and isolate groups like
Greenpeace and Rainforest Action Network.
``I'd rather talk to a wall than talk to them,'' said Sixto Mendez, safety,
health and environmental manager for Arco Oriente Inc., which is spending $350
million developing nine oil wells in a rain forest in eastern Ecuador.
Oil companies should ask moderate environmental groups to monitor their
performance, and should get help from consultants in dealing with native
communities and their lands, he added. Mendez spoke at a session on ``Oil
Development and Indigenous Peoples'' during the convention of the American
Association of Petroleum Geologists last week in Salt Lake City.
Harvard University anthropologist Ted Macdonald said oil and gas exploration
are pushing more often into native lands in Colombia, Ecuador and the rest of
the Amazon Basin.
``This is a mess waiting to happen. Conflicts are inevitable.''
Robert Wasserstrom of The Terra Group -- a Houston firm that advises oil
companies -- urged negotiation with ``moderate, science-based organizations''
such as the World Wildlife Fund, the Nature Conservancy, Conservation
International and Cultural Survival.
He warned against dealing with ``radical advocacy groups'' such as Rainforest
Action Network, Oilwatch International, Greenpeace, Amazon Coalition and
Survival International.
``Their goal is to force you out of the country,'' so there is no point in
dialogue and such groups should be isolated from debate, he said. Instead,
build coalitions with moderates who believe ``development will happen'' and who
want to ensure it is done in the best way possible, he added. Mark Westlund,
spokesman at Rainforest Action Network in San Francisco, said comments at the
Utah meeting represent ``a pretty standard corporate response to mass
public movements. God forbid anyone should believe the public actually has
power in determining their future.''
Westlund acknowledged his group believes existing reserves make petroleum
development in rain forests unnecessary. ``Groups like Rainforest Action
Network will make themselves part of the debate by whatever means are
required,'' he said. ``If it's civil disobedience at oil wells or oil companies
or shareholder annual meetings, we'll make sure our perspective is heard.''
Wasserstrom said advocacy groups know trees alone cannot win broad support, so
their ``campaigns need victims'' -- indigenous peoples.
When advocacy groups formed alliances with natives in the Amazon, oil companies
faced two-year delays, standstill fees, lost revenues, contract penalties,
shareholder actions, boycotts, damaged reputations, sabotage, armed occupations
of work sites and kidnappings, Wasserstrom said. He said indigenous people want
compensation for damages and a share of benefits of development -- and to be
consulted before exploration begins. Oil companies must be patient, allow time
for dealing with local concerns, share information openly and hire local
people. ``Emphasize self-reliance and training, not dependence and
paternalism,'' Wasserstrom said.
Macdonald said natives once traded rubber and other resources for machetes,
axes and shotguns. In the 1960s, more goods flowed into South American jungles
along with colonists who threatened Indian land and extracted more resources.
Indigenous people formed federations, which ``are a political force that has to
be dealt with,'' Macdonald said.
He said oil companies' ``best tool is simply to listen'' to Indians rather than
relying exclusively on non-Indian support organizations.
Asked if there are times oil companies should not go into an area, Macdonald
replied sacred sites ``are strictly off limits. You simply should not be
there.'' Mendez told how Arco sought cooperation from Quichua Indians on its
Villano project in Ecuador.
A single 7-acre drill site will contain all nine wells, with no ground
discharge of wastes and no roads to the site. Helicopters will bring in
equipment. A pipeline will be laid by a small monorail train which will
cut a narrower swath through the forest than road-building equipment.
He said indigenous people want an undisturbed life and respect for their
environment and values. Arco conducted an aggressive community relations
program with the Indians, who worked on environmental studies, exploration,
reforestation and drilling.
Arco also built schools, flew in teachers for three-week stints, gave
scholarships to outstanding students, provided a doctor and supplied air
transport for medical emergencies, he said.
Mendez said those exploring for oil ``need a lot of patience and a very thick
skin when you go into the rain forest.''