Gore faces protests over Occidental Petroleum shares
© 2000 Reuters Limited
August 15, 2000
Story by Anthony Boadle
LOS ANGELES - Hundreds of activists, joined by Hollywood stars, questioned Vice President Al Gore's credentials as an environmental champion on Tuesday, calling on him to divest his family shares in Occidental Petroleum Corp.
The Los Angeles-based company has come under fire from environmentalists for its plans to drill for oil on land claimed by the U'wa Indian tribe in northeastern Colombia.
More than 1,000 environmental activists and anti-capitalist demonstrators marched through downtown Los Angeles to the Democratic Convention where Gore will accept the party's presidential nomination on Thursday.
"Al Gore: reject big oil $$," said a banner.
"Divest your shares and show us you are an environmental champion on the side of the U'wa," Atossa Soltani, director of the Amazon Watch environmental group, said at the rally.
The 5,000-member U'wa tribe drew attention to their cause by vowing to commit collective suicide by walking off a cliff if Occidental proceeded with its drilling plans. Tribe members believe the land is sacred and oil is the "life blood of Mother Earth."
Gore reported in his public financial disclosure in May that his family's shares in Occidental were valued at between $500,000 and $1 million.
The shares were left by his father, Al Gore Sr., who had a close business relationship with the founder of Occidental, Armand Hammer, and was a member of the company's board of directors for 20 years after leaving the Senate.
The U'wa conflict has become an embarrassment for the Gore campaign, which has depicted rival Republican candidates George W. Bush and Dick Cheney as an oil industry ticket with no concern for the environment.
"Gore's connections with Occidental make him no better than Bush," Soltani told the rally.
Actors Susan Sarandon, Martin Sheen, Cary Elwes, Alicia Silverstone and singer Bonnie Raitt, wrote to Gore urging him to take urgent action to save lives and the environment among the U'wa.
"You have enjoyed the sponsorship of Occidental Petroleum throughout your political career," they wrote in a letter that said Gore's connection with Occidental ran deeper than the stock he controls through his family estate.
"Many of us have supported your candidacy because we were drawn to you by a shared sense of concern for the Earth. What you do on this issue now will be not only of critical importance but a question of integrity," they wrote.
Raitt sang at the rally accompanied by John Densmore, drummer of the legendary Doors rock group.
Gore spokesman Doug Hattaway said the vice president could not sell the stock in Occidental because he does not own it. The shares are in a trust for his mother Pauline.
"He has been fighting to protect the environment for 25 years and he will continue that fight," Hattaway said.
Gore has asked Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to speak to the Colombian government to make sure that the U'wa are getting due process to air their grievances, Hattaway said.
In a seven-year legal wrangle, the U'wa won a temporary injunction in March blocking oil exploration, but that was overturned six weeks later by a Colombian high court.
Occidental said it would restart work immediately preparing its first test well in the Samore block, which is estimated to hold some 2.5 billion barrels of crude oil. Though the well is just outside the limits of their legally recognised reservation, the U'wa insist it is still on their ancestral lands.